The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 17

Part 4

“Be careful when you cast them. This is not to be cast on my daughter directly, since I don’t think it would be wise to cast any spells on our children directly. Who knows what it could lead to? So anyway, I will cast this on my own womb, to monitor my child within, and you will cast those on Talia’s womb.”

“Ah, I see that now, now that I consider it.” Talia nodded. “That’s very good thinking too, by the way, about not casting anything on our children.”

“Thank you.” Alilia smiled, and the bright spark in her hand floated down to her belly and disappeared.

Mark’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Talia, could you help me with this? I’m trying to make sure that one of these is attuned to Reggie and the other to Helemia, so we know right away which one of them is doing it if they do anything. But I’m having a bit of trouble with it, and you know them a lot better than I do.”

Talia deepened her Link with him to share his thoughts and sensations directly.

Alilia joined them in that. “Hmm. I’d have thought the effort would be un-necessary, since the two of them are almost one mind anyway. But despite their constant and complete Linking, they’re developing their own individualities quite nicely. Moreso since their little adventure tonight, I see.”

“There. Go ahead.” Talia said, and Mark let the two spells drift down and disappear within her.

They cuddled and silently considered the twins with all their senses, and all their love. Then Alilia broadened their awareness to include her daughter, who was still just an invisibly tiny ball of life, only four weeks since her conception. But they loved her just the same.

The next morning they were visited by Hilsith, Yazadril, and Nemia, who joined them for breakfast.

After hugs and greetings and placing extra settings at the table, Hilsith opened the conversation. “The Sylvan is sedated, and with our continued treatment he will likely recover. Eventually.”

“We’ve Read him rather thoroughly. His name is Vanakit Lamitkeze, and he’s quite an individual.” Yazadril added. “For one thing, he’s over eight hundred years old, which is rare in a Sylvan. He’s also one of the most formidable warriors and wizards of that race I’ve ever met. It seems their God of Stealth has imposed his own culture on them for the last few thousand years, and it includes not allowing the adults to kill one another. Since they’ve had this culture for far longer than a Sylvan’s lifespan, or what we thought was their lifespan, they’ve had time to learn that a Sylvan can live a lot longer than we thought. So long as they’re not killing each other, that is. No doubt Zarkog would have discovered the same, if he’d had time.

“The eldest Sylvan on these islands is over three thousand years old, and is certainly the most formidable member of her race. Many of them are older than the nine hundred years we thought they could live, and have had the time to become far more capable than any of the Sylvan from Serminak.

“However, their young still slay one another regularly, which winnows out the weak and keeps their population in check. Which is lucky, since their females have a child every fifteen months on the average, century after century.

“They live by hunting, gathering, and fishing, and their homes are made in hollows in trees; like primitive versions of elven homes. Their god hides them and all their artifacts from detection from all others, and from any animal. It makes hunting a very easy activity, apparently. They practice being stealthy with fanatical devotion as well, to hide from one another and to impress the god. Though the adults don’t kill each other, they live in a constant state of anarchy and warfare, with ever-shifting factions competing for status, power, and their god’s favor. Though killing each other is forbidden among the adults, wounding, maiming, and torturing one another are quite acceptable.

“Their homes are all on the big island on the north-west edge of Hiliani, almost as far from here as they could be. The one in our infirmary was only so close because he was scouting us. They’ve been aware of us since the first day we were here. Their god, whose name they don’t know, told them to leave us alone, and left before the time-bubble went up. I imagine he didn’t want to be trapped in here for twenty-four years. But the Sylvan here don’t know why he left, and they’re not aware of the time-bubble. He just told them he’d be gone for a score of years, and left.”

“We had Povon consult with us on his Healing, since we considered her to be our resident expert on Sylvan, due to her recent experience as Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak.” Hilsith said between bites of flat-cakes. “She was a great help too.