Wrath of the White Tigress

Chapter 8

A vaulted dome capped the highest tower of the Palace of the Hmyr. On its interior surface were painted the stars and planets of midnight on the Winter Solstice. Along the walls star charts hung between shelves overflowing with scrolls and books. The room possessed no windows, only a single door that led to a balcony. Two small tables sat in the center and were surrounded by plush cushions. Here Nalsyrra studied her secret arts and divined whatever schemes occupied her time while Karphon developed his military stratagems for conquering the East.

Mardha knew her father treasured Karphon. Once, in a good mood, he had remarked that if he could extend immortality to others, Karphon would get it after Mardha and Jaska. No others save Nalsyrra would get this boon, and she would get it only because Karphon depended on her.

Karphon was valuable because he readily turned a blind eye toward palymfar atrocities and administrated Hareez with iron-handed efficiency, something Salahn had no interest in doing. Salahn also valued Karphon's lack of jealousy. An odd sort of tyrant, Karphon seemed to have no trouble sharing power as long as he could freely enjoy those comforts that pleased him most.

Mardha and her guards, Nalsyrra, and Karphon stepped out on the ten-foot wide balcony that encircled the tower then climbed a rope ladder to the top of the dome, a flattened surface thirty feet in diameter. The ocean and the nearby marshes scented the cool night air. The vast palace grounds lay quiet below. On a hill a mile away, the Grand Temple of the White Tigress stood out against the night sky, eerily lit from the torches within. The heart of the city lay between them.

While the others crammed into a protective circle near the roof's edge, Nalsyrra stripped. Her inked body disappeared into the night except where it contrasted against the white lines of the pentagram she knelt within. She arched her spine and leaned back with her head tilted up. Mardha had seen Nalsyrra work before, but she still found the bizarre celestial rituals fascinating.

~~~

Thousands of stars twinkled above in hundreds of familiar patterns. Nalsyrra chanted for nearly an hour, until her energized breaths rose toward the stars shimmering like heat waves on the desert horizon. Stars swirled and bent, refracted through the waves. The distant, burning orbs shifted into new patterns, forming a script known only to the Ojaka'ari. Nalsyrra read what the stars revealed to her request this night, though she would tell to Mardha only those things she wished Mardha to know. The fulfillment of Nalsyrra's destiny depended on many secrets, and the timing of revelations mattered immensely.

Though finished with her reading, she continued to sway and murmur. It was theatre to add to the mystery of her powers. After some minutes more, she turned toward her observers but did not dismiss the lesser Star Spirits whom she had called down to power her ritual.

"Jaska Bavadi has not been under the stars for seven days now, but he's alive. The stars have not witnessed the passing of his spirit."

"Is he held captive?" Mardha asked.

"I do not know. He was wounded and dying when taken into a cave by the priestess Zyrella and her templar captain. He has not emerged since."

"Did he see the White Tigress? Did she attack him?"

Nalsyrra knew the truth but didn't speak it. "The stars do not know. It was storming at the shrine when the Tigress was freed."

"What of Jaska's qavra? Does he have it with him?"

"I do not know."

A long silence followed.

"What else have the stars whispered to you tonight? Surely there is more."

A slight grin twisted at Nalsyrra's lips. "The stars whispered many prophecies to me this night, some of evil, all of great significance."

"What prophecies?"