Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Sarah

“ H ello again, Sarah,” Omen said as she arrived a short time later. “I thought you might be hungry, so I brought breakfast.”

I watched as she walked into Deacon’s quarters with a tray, which held many strange things, and a worried feeling seeped in. I was right to be concerned. The food was on large leaves, except for the pungent mix of things that sat in a bowl. There were also two glasses of a red liquid.

I wriggled my nose at the unfamiliar scents filling my nostrils. “What is all this?”

“This white paste is rannat, the bowl is aliubock, and the roasted meat is cina,” she said, explaining each one in turn. “And you can wash it all down with banwine or water with herbs, if you prefer.”

Staring at the tiny roasted chunks, I asked cautiously, “Cina…that’s like mice, right?” I asked, remembering how Deacon had once described cina.

“Mice are an Earth thing?” she asked in confusion.

I sighed and set the tray on Deacon’s desk. Can’t wait until Jac is back. He knows how to translate these things for me. “Yes. Um, thank you for breakfast, Omen. That was thoughtful of you.” I tried a nibble of cina. While it did not taste like chicken, the texture was pretty close. It was kind of nutty and surprisingly, not bad at all.

“I am happy you are pleased. How else may I be of assistance?”

“First things first, you are not my servant, so please don’t act like one, okay?”

Omen bowed her head slightly. “I am sorry. I am used to Portend’s ways. We were all her servants, and since I am bound to follow you, I—”

“Wait, what?” I asked, aghast at what she was insinuating. “You’re not bound to me in any way at all.”

Her smile was almost serene. “There is so much for you to learn about conduits…when we find someone worth following, there is little that will stop us from doing so.”

“I don’t understand.” Confusion trickled through me. “Why do you think of me that way?”

“You’re you .”

Her reply explained nothing and only added to my bewilderment. “What’s that mean?”

“When Jac came to my home and started asking questions about the contra, the woman who would end the power of the conduits, I told him that if I believed someone had the power to do that, I would be the first in line to follow them.”

My eyes widened as I quickly connected the dots. “Which is why you said that to me right before the battle with Mother Portend, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “You meet all the criteria of the prophecy, you subverted everything Mother Portend wanted, and you sent the conduits scattering to the corners of Halla.”

“There were a whole lot of people helping with that,” I reminded her. “It wasn’t all me.”

“If you were not willing to sacrifice yourself for Jac, none of that would have happened. And then, you killed Portend,” she said with a gleeful grin. “Something I had tried twice and failed to do myself.”

I felt lightheaded trying to understand everything. Chugging some banwine, I tried to speak, but the alcohol burned my throat and I choked. She handed me the water with herbs, so I downed that instead.

“Banwine is strong!” I rasped.

Omen shrugged. “No stronger than neneed.”

I coughed again. “Yeah, I haven’t tried that, either. The whole thing with Portend…” I couldn’t stop feeling the sensation of the blade going across my throat and sinking into the crone behind me. It was as though my hand was still on her bony fingers, redirecting the blade. Shake it off, girl . “I don’t want to talk about that. I hope you understand.”

“Of course. You are studying the land of Halla?” She gestured to the map on the monitor.

I nodded, grateful for the change of topic. “Such a small planet. I need to learn all I can about it and the people here. I was hoping you could help me with that.”

“Well,” she indicated the chart in front of us, “this should be updated. The lands north of the Craggy Mountains have been reformed by the volcanoes again.”

“They blow up or something?”

“No, the land has extended several kilometers into the Diamond Sea that surrounds the continent,” Omen explained. “The continent is now around two million square kilometers, by my estimation.”

“Oh.” I frowned. “Strange that Deacon doesn’t have an updated map.”

Omen nodded. “Yes, but I know about it only because I had taken my ship out on the water. I don’t believe it is widely known. The land there won’t be viable for a few years, not until plants lay claim to it. Am I truly here for a geography lesson or do you wish to discuss the Mother Test?”

I smiled at her. “I like that you get right to the point, but I do have another question for you. Why are the conduits so much stronger than Valor?”

“What do you mean?” Puzzlement flickered in her eyes. “He held his own during the fight.”

“Sure, he can fight other ghosts because he’s one himself. But he can’t hold his infants, and I suspect that you and the other ghost conduits could.”

“Prayer,” she said simply.

“Huh?”

“Ghosts are strengthened by the living remembering them or praying to them. Conduits were prayed to after our deaths, before Justice outlawed such things. Even now, I can feel the strength of the people’s prayers to us, but there is fear to it, as well. That is why I can carry trays and touch other things, as well as bones. Have you not noticed that all of the doorknobs and handles to things are made of bone here on Halla?”

I thought about what she’d just said, then I felt sick when realization struck. “I just thought ivory was a popular color for doorknobs and stuff here.”

“Well, it is, because bone is ivory-colored. Bone is a way to allow all ghosts to touch it.”

I thought back on every time I opened a door and my skin crawled. But there were nice designs on the bone—they were carved ornately. I tried not to judge, but my voice cracked when I asked, “I’ve been grabbing someone’s bones this whole time without knowing it?”

She nodded and smiled, but then her gaze narrowed in on my face. “Are you well?”

I pressed a hand to my queasy stomach. “Just a little nauseous at the thought of touching a dead person’s bones. I’ll be fine. So, if Valor was prayed to by someone living, then he could probably hold his babies?”

“It would take a lot of prayer, or the prayers of someone powerful.”

“Strange,” I sighed, fascinated by it all. “So, the Mother Test you and Deacon were discussing. Tell me what you know.”

“The test is generally conducted at a temple at night. You place your hands on the altar and close your eyes. Then in your mind, you ask for the Mother Test. The gods decide what kind of test to give—they are unique to the conduit. But the requirements are the same for everyone who takes it. You must know yourself and you must not lie, no matter how uncomfortable the truth may be. A conduit’s power comes from the truth. Which is something else Justice hated about us.”

“If I understand it correctly, he had the conduits executed to refocus the people’s attention onto him, is that right?” I asked.

“Yes. He said that he had us executed because we did not warn him about the impending war, but that was cina waste,” she scoffed. “He did it because he wants to be the center of the people’s affections. He’s been that way, ever since he was a boy, according to Portend.”

“She knew him?”

Omen nodded. “She was the Royal Advisor.”

My mouth dropped open. “Justice had his advisor executed and the rest of the royals didn’t object?”

“Oh, they objected,” Omen said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Right up until he beheaded them, too.”

“Damn.” I shook my head and nibbled on some more roasted cina. Surprisingly, the taste was growing on me, even if it was half the size of a chicken wing. “And after that?”

“After that, who else was going to object? The rest of the royal court shut their mouths. And his family?” She huffed. “Most of them benefit from Justice keeping a tight leash on Orhon and Halla, so that’s not going to happen. The rest tried to flee. Not that I blame them.”

I bet that’s why my father has an island far from the mainland. “Okay, so back to the test,” I said, redirecting our conversation. “You told Deacon that I would get some kind of power over the conduits, but what does that mean?”

“I wish I could tell you, but it is different for everyone. Portend’s control was limited to her ability to dole out power to us, so if you were on her good side, then you got stronger, and the opposite was true, as well. I have heard other Mothers could control our will to a degree, but that is hearsay.”

I considered all that. “And you also said the test is dangerous.”

“It is like a simulation in your mind, and what is in our minds is what we experience.” She looked me straight in the eyes. “So if you die in the test, then you die in reality, as well.”

I took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay, that’s a lot to process.”

“I am sure that it is. Know this—it is likely the other conduits have tried the Mother Test already, and failed.”

Her comment startled me. “Wait, how do you know they failed?”

“Because if they had succeeded, then they would have already attacked again,” she said simply.

Small favors. “What else do I need to know about the test?”

“You will walk away with immense powers and not only control of the conduits,” she said, her tone serious. “Being the contra, I expect you to receive something special.”

She was so certain I was this contra , but the concept was difficult to wrap my brain around. “But those powers are individual to the conduit, so you don’t know the details, right?”

“No, I don’t.” She sighed. “This is frustrating, I know. I wish I knew more. Can I assume you have never been in a fight before what happened here?”

I tried to keep my mind focused on the question, but it brought back too many other horrible memories. Beer breath. The smack of a wall against my face. Loud voices. I gulped and tried not to blab to Omen. She may have been my only follower, but she was also a stranger, and I didn’t want to burden her with my past.

“Not really,” I said.

“Then, you need training. The test could be anything from a child’s game to full combat. I will feel better about sending you to take the test, if you are better prepared.”

“That’s a good point. I guess I could ask Deacon—”

She laughed, like she was insulted. “ I will train you, Sarah. Deacon is a merciless warrior, but he does not know how to wield our gifts.”

“Alright then,” I said, trying to shore up my fortitude for what was to come. “When do we begin?”

“Now.”