Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A horrible wail rose from the distraught woman. The wagoners each grabbed an arm and dragged the fallen man off the platform.

The man who had sat quietly now lifted his head. His eyes showed determination and he stiffened his chin. Shouts rang out of the crowd as they pressed against the spears of the guards.

"Let him go!"

"Release him!"

"Enough!"

The priestess raised her hands and the crowd was silenced. "My people, know that I understand your concerns for our brother here-" She gestured down to the defiant man, "-but know that he does this deed for the betterment of the whole of the island. Without these small sacrifices the Thaqiba will fall and then what shall become of us?"

A sullen silence fell on the crowd except for the woman who continued to sob into the chest of an older man I took to be her father. The priestess beckoned to the other man and one of the wagoners unchained him and pushed him forward.

The man knelt before the woman and lifted his face to glare at her. She frowned in return before she turned her head slightly to her helper. The woman with the aqara stepped forward and held the ball of sand up to him. It pulsed with light.

The priestess smiled as her helper stepped back into position. "You have a great power within you, sir. It will contribute greatly to the future of the island."

The priestess closed her eyes and raised her hands. Those strange words emanated from her lips as the stone began to glow. The familiar tendrils rose out of the rock and latched onto him.

The man continued his defiant stance as his body began to glow. However, he couldn't help but jerk back as his magic was sapped from his body.

"Stop this at once!"

The shout came from a qasi that sprinted up to the crowd. A woman of sixty rode between its small humps. Her plain tan headdress and dress flapped behind her and revealed her well-tanned face.

The woman pulled hard on the brakes and forced the animal into a skidding halt. The disruption broke the concentration of the priestess who stopped her chanting and opened her fiery eyes. The darkness vanished and the captor fell face-first onto the blanket.

The intruding woman leapt down and hurried toward the Kneeling Stone. Two of the guards, however, crossed their spears in her path.

She stopped before them and glared at the pair. "You would dare stop me?"

The men glanced at each other, uncertainty written on their faces. The woman gave a huff and flung her arms up, throwing the spears out of her way. She stomped over to the stone, casting a look of ire at the chanting woman, and knelt beside the fallen man.

The old woman pursed her lips as she inspected him. She whipped her head around to face the nearest guard. "Carry these men to my qasi!"

The man looked to the other old woman in the overdone hood. She lifted her chin slightly and knitted her eyebrows together, but gave a curt nod. The men strode forward and each took an arm and slung the limb over their shoulders. They carried the captive off the platform and the distraught woman broke from the crowd and hurried after them. She caught up just as they were flinging the unconscious man over the back of the qasi. The woman clasped the man's head in her hands and pressed a light kiss to his forehead.

The newcomer looked at the woman with pity while the priestess continued to glare at her. "You are foolish to interfere in the matters of the king," the priestess scolded her counterpart.

The newcomer turned and scoffed at her. "His matters are to look after his subjects, not to hunt them down like animals and steal their magic."

The helpers gasped, but the priestess raised a hand and silenced them. She kept her cool eyes on the interloper as her words came out in a terse tone. "The king will hear of your interference."

The other woman lifted her chin. "See that he does. I would like an audience with him to remind him of his duties."

The newcomer spun on her heels and marched over to her qasi where the men were just tossing the first captive over the animal's back. The distraught woman still stood beside the beast and stroked the man's cheek with one hand. The older woman spoke in a low voice for a moments before the younger woman reluctantly stepped back into the arms of the older man who was one among a small crowd that had gathered at the animal.

The woman climbed aboard the animal in front of the man and smiled down at her. "I will see that he will be returned to you in a day or two, but you may visit when you please." The woman could only nod.

The newcomer grasped the reins in her hand, but paused and looked in our direction. Her eyes met those of Ben and he inclined his head. She lifted her chin slightly before she stared ahead and snapped the reins. The animal trotted off with its heavier load.

Ben turned to me. "Let's follow her."

We hurried back to the wagon and climbed aboard. In a few minutes we found ourselves sliding across the sand after the bobbing qasi. The woman appeared to be headed for a large oasis of trees and high brush. She guided her qasi down an opening in the bushes and disappeared from view.

Ben parked the wagon on the edge of the oasis and tied the reins to one of the trees. Our qasi gladly took a spot in the shade and began to munch on the foliage. Ben stepped up to the mouth of the beaten path and peered down its long length. The foliage was so high that it created a tunnel effect that cast deep shadows over the path. The trail also meandered enough that, as I sidled up to Ben's side, I lost sight of the path after about ten yards.

"So you think this is a good idea?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "No, but I'm curious to know what this woman might be able to tell us about that Kneeling Stone ritual."

I snorted. "Well, we could ask the snake woman really nicely, but I think all we'd get is a hiss."

"Or a place on the Stone," Ben pointed out. I recalled the experiences of the last two people and couldn't help but shudder. Ben slipped his hand around mine and gave it a squeeze. "I won't let that happen."

I smiled up at him. "Just don't go doing anything stupidly brave to do it, okay?"

He looked down the path. "This looks like a good example of stupid bravery. We could very well be walking into some sort of trap."

I thought back to the woman and her interference in the ceremony, and I shook my head. "I don't think so. I mean, she did stop the ceremony, even if it was too late." I knitted my eyebrows together as I again peered into the darkness. "Unless she's just a nice cannibal. . ."

"What does that mean? Cannibal?"

"It, um, means someone who likes the taste of human flesh."

"Ah, I see. We call them ghouls."

My face drooped. "You mean you have them in this world, too?"

"Very rarely," he assured me.

I wasn't assured.

"They don't happen to like dry, sandy places, do they?" I asked him.

He flashed me a mischievous smile as he strode down the path, taking me with him. "Let's see."