The Son of Thunder

Part Two: Numbers

Much more accurate rendering of Shawna than my previously posted sketch.

Chapter Eight

 Lightening ambled to Shawna's office. Shawna would have preferred that he rested longer, but at least he was up. A report was in her hands.

"Lightening, you're sure your attacker was a Wolfdrum?" she said as soon as he appeared.

The cotton tunic, the denim leggings, the assailant was even strangely familiar. "Yes, Shawna. Why?"

She went over the report again. "I have heard rumblings of murders in the Middlelands, but I've paid little attention to them."

"I've heard that too."

"The latest victim was a Thundonian."

That's daring. Lightening came up beside her. He caught sight of her pendulum. He pushed the silver ball at the end of the wire so the time would be wrong.

She smacked his hand. "Focus." She brought up the scroll and held it so he could see. Shawna was taller than he, but a few seasons would change that. "He was stabbed in the chest several times, but very little blood was emitted from the wounds."

"He was already dead?"

"That's what Galen thinks."

Lightening suspected the culprit's motives. He didn't want to hear the words.

"Galen found a scratch on the man's arm. It had been cleaned up and was virtually unnoticeable, but Galen was looking for it."

Lightening put a hand over his face. He didn't understand and his head hurt. He hated his rashaman gifts. Music filled his ears. A strange sound. They didn't have music in Thundonia. Or snow. It was always warm in Thundonia. The mountain was poorly ventilated, which made it worse. They didn't have seasons, even vague ones like Valley. The people had been so kind to him. He remembered the moist cassata. The place was coated in crystal ice.

"Why are the Acidonians attacking us?"

"I don't know," Shawna said, a scowl etched deep on her features. "Galen sought out the Middleland victims, checked their bodies, what's left of them, and he's found similar scratches. Someone has taken great care to hide these marks."

Lightening walked casually out of the room, but as soon as the door was closed, he started pacing. He lied when he told Shawna he was well. Nausea gurgled in his bowels. He wasn't ready for this.

* * * * *

"The Son of Thunder was nearly killed at Crystal Lake yesterday, did you hear, Yuanshi?" Rhysya said.

"Yes, I did, as a matter of fact," Yuanshi said absently. He was working. He had taken his papers to Rhysya's private quarters because he was trying to get the young Priestess to take an interest in the strange deaths that had been occurring outside Valley. To her, it was another census reading. He desperately wanted Eternity ousted from a ruling position and Rhysya was the only one who had the authority to do it.

"Isn't that amazing?"

Yuanshi lifted his brow. He was lost in thoughts of Eternity and his fears were getting the better of him. "That the Son of Thunder was almost killed? Do you wish him dead?"

"No," she howled. "That he was so close to us. If I had gone on a walk with Camilia yesterday, I might have seen him."

Yuanshi mused and lowered his head over the scroll. "Not until you're a woman, Rhysya."

"Three seasons, Yuanshi," the eleven annae old girl howled and jumped, tugging his sleeve.

Rhysya bent over her bureau and fondled her collection of wooden animals. She lifted a lion and examined it, turned it over so she could studied his belly and claws. The creator took such care in etching the fur into the wood. He should have taken enough pride in the piece to keep it close to his heart.