Following Signs

"Siral, hurry!"

"I'm coming! Heysa, hurry up!"

The prince-priest grabbed Heysa's wrist, tugging her after him as they ran down the hall, followed by one of the ceremonial guards and a stray scholar, and following the High Priest Dedani. They'd been separated from the crowd, led by Siral's father deeper into the temple, away from the chaos and panic outside. Heysa didn't know what was going on, and she was very afraid-- High Priest Dedani seemed to think they were under attack, but if so, it was like no attack Heysa had ever heard of. Fire fell from the sky and rolled with thunder, the stars were completely blotted out, the air seemed dead and lifeless, and she could sense no spell at work nor see warriors. What warriors would attack in the middle of a naming ceremony, anyway?

They stopped at a room, the High Priest ushered them quickly inside, and began murmuring softly to the guardswoman-- Natay, she remembered now. She remembered the tall woman with her down-turned horns and frosty expression, a woman to be admired, for sure. Heysa couldn't make out what they were saying, only the tense, hurried quality of their voices. Siral stood beside her, still holding fast to her wrist, out of breath and looking more panicked than she had ever seen him. The scholar bustled around the room, grabbing this and that and piling them neatly into a small, portable trunk. For a moment, Heysa's breath caught, for he was surely the most beautiful man she had ever seen, but before she could even be caught staring, her attention was neatly and firmly supplanted.

"Lathan, hurry up, we don't have all night!" the High Priest snapped, making both the scholar and Heysa herself blink.

"But just a few more--"

"No, that's enough. We're escaping the palace, not going on a pleasure journey. Take only what you need."

Escaping the palace! Heysa stared at the High Priest, forgetting that she, as a lowly servant, had no right to look such a personage in the face. The shock of those words struck her still and silent. Surely nothing was so horrible that the palace, the temple itself would have to be abandoned!

Siral seemed just as shocked. "But Father--" he gasped. Dedani hushed him, opened the door and looked both ways, then ushered the small group out, Lathan's chest floating along behind them and the scholar looking much put out by how much he had to leave behind. Heysa didn't feel even the slightest sympathy for him, nor did she pay any more attention to his beauty, utterly terrified and fully expecting that whoever had attacked the palace would appear around the next corner.

All that appeared was the door to Natay's room, in which the scene from before was repeated, only Natay was much quicker and didn't pack things like jewelry of books, just a few changes of clothes and a couple weapons. She added hers to Lathan's chest at Dedani's order, and Siral tried to get some kind of explanation from his father, to no avail. Heysa just stared at the floor, eyes feeling permanently fixed in a wide, frightened expression, her wild hair floating about her head as it had long since escaped its wrapping in several places.

Finally, they made their third stop, at Siral's own rooms. The High Priest led his son into them, presumably to pack and to remove the ceremonial adornments. It seemed ridiculous that they should be escaping the palace dressed in their finest, yet here they were. Heysa felt lost, chilled, and oddly calm-- in shock, she guessed, though the knowledge of the same didn't change the fact any. In this state, she couldn't even help her master change, one of her most menial tasks....

"Is there anything you need to bring?" Heysa started and found herself staring into bright lavender eyes behind small spectacles: the scholar, Lathan. She couldn't find any words, though her mouth fell open without any sound, and she felt her cheeks going warm, flushing an even darker blue.

"Girl's in shock," Natay observed shortly. "Grab her something, anything, her room's right there. We can fit it in ours. We're all going to the same place, anyway."

"It'll be all right," Lathan assured Heysa with a kindly smile, even reaching up to pat her shoulder before he bounced into her small chamber to rummage through her things.

Finally she found her voice. "No, I can, I'm all right." She hurried after him, still blushing deeply, suddenly finding the idea of the beautiful young man with his hands all over her poor garments shameful. He shouldn't have to touch her things, that was the job of a servant-- namely, herself. He relinquished his place by the bureau and let her pull out the first things she laid her hands on.

"You're awfully calm about all this," Natay commented, and for a moment Heysa was afraid she was talking to her.

"Am I?" Lathan answered, and Heysa relaxed, folding her clothes neatly on top of Natay's. "I'm actually terribly excited. Can you imagine-- all of this happening now, in our generation?"

"No," said Natay shortly. "I wish it weren't."

What "it" was, Heysa never learned, for the High Priest swept out into the sitting chamber with his son and another floating chest in tow. Siral was, indeed, changed, stripped of his jewels and winged collar, wearing simple sandals and his under-tunic, with only the ring on his horn left. He looked even whiter than usual, the blue line of his lips very small and very bright against a pallor that made Heysa shiver. Dedani had told him something, maybe about "it", and it had frightened him.

"Let's go," Dedani said, and they stepped out into the hall.

Though Natay was alert, sword in one hand and dagger in the other, ready to protect them at a moment's notice, the halls were eerily silent. There was no one else to meet, and the sounds of the shouts from the city and the falling fire were either vanished or too muffled by the palace walls to be heard. Everything felt surreal, and Heysa thought that at any moment she might wake up and find that she had overslept and Siral was furious with her for not being there when he woke, on the all-important morning of his star-naming. She did not wake up, however, and just followed her master silently, nervous and still wearing the wide-eyed expression of surprise that she could not seem to erase.

They were in a part of the palace Heysa had never been to before, the home of the mages and priests, halls that echoed with their hurried footsteps and were lined with doors. Dedani brought them to the end of the hall, opening a heavy-looking door with a key and ushering them inside. The walls and floor and ceiling were inlaid with symbols and words in the holy language, in swirls of precious metals. Even a servant like Heysa knew them to be the metals of magic: steel for water, silver for air, bronze for fire, gold for earth, copper for time, platinum for light, cirge for life, and sparkling irivanee for spirit. Her breath caught again, even detached as she felt, this time with wonder. She had never expected to see a room like this; her kind were not allowed.

"Stand here, here, there, and there," the High Priest was instructing. "We are a poor number... only five of us. Four anchors and a center, I suppose is how we'll have to do it."

Heysa went where he told her, standing awkwardly on a disk of gold, feeling out of place among these rich, magical, beautiful people. Surely the magic would reject her, poor and rude as she was. The floor rumbled ominously, and Dedani swore. Heysa's gaze focused on him in shock. Priests should not know that kind of language, much less speak it!

"Hold steady, all of you," the High Priest commanded. "I'll work the spell, I need you four just to stay still, and don't speak." Again there came the rumbling sound, and the floor vibrated under Heysa's feet. She gulped, but nodded as Dedani's eyes fell on her and asked if she were ready. The sooner they left, the sooner they would be safe.

The High Priest's voice spilled over them all, a purer sound than any she had ever heard, for Heysa had never heard a spell like this before. It almost distracted her from the next, more powerful tremor-- almost. The walls were still shaking when another hit, but Dedani's voice only got louder and purer, as if to compensate. Heysa looked around with her eyes, trying to still her own trembling as yet another quake hit the palace-- that's what these were, she realized. The very earth was shaking, again and again, getting worse and worse as if it were building up to something even worse. There was a crack forming in the wall across from her.

Still the spell was being worked, and Dedani didn't seem to notice the growing danger, so immersed in the casting. Natay seemed as cold as ever, Lathan even more excited as if this were some great adventure, and Siral kept his eyes fixed firmly on his father. Another quake, and they all wavered on their feet, but the magic in the circles of metal they stood on held them fast. Dedani's voice was even louder, almost shouting, and almost singing. The palace bucked again, and bits of the ceiling rained down on them. The air felt charged, and even Heysa, who's magic was very small and nearly worthless, could feel the spell rising to its peak.

However, she could also see that the ceiling would cave in on them if they were here any longer.

One final, massive shaking, and Dedani shouted one final word, and the stone above them fell through them as they disappeared into light.