Monday, November 22, 2004

Part 8

Raven and Synthia reached the Iekah Samarsa just as the snowfall ended. All around Synthia could see a very light dusting of white on the new spring grass beginning to grown in front of the hillside temple. The marble stone steps that lead up to the building were clear and she was relieved to find that they were still warm. Synthia forgot that Raven could not see, and said, “Isn’t it beautiful Raven?”
“I don’t know Syn, I can only see a few feet in front of me,” Elizabeth answered.
“Oh I forgot. Let me describe it to you. The temple is over one hundred feet long from northwest to southeast. It is all white marble and the roof is copper. When I was younger the roof was polished every year to make it shine in the sun, but now it is a strange sort of beautiful green. The southeast portion is open with columns that rise in height from the middle of the building to the southeast end and the northwest end is the sanctuary. The steps, in the middle here lead up to a small gathering area where the lowest columns meet the sanctuary. There is no snow on the steps because the whole temple was built on a natural hot spring and the builders engineered channels inside of the stone to allow the hot spring water to flow all through the stonework. Once we get inside the sanctuary it should be warm enough to change into some new cloths. Oh no!” She exclaimed suddenly, “I left the pillowcase on the ground back where we stopped.”
“What? I thought you were carrying it?” Elizabeth could only whimper the words through her chattering teeth.
“I could kick myself!” Synthia shouted. “Well let’s get inside anyway and at least warm up. Maybe I can find the bag in the morning.”
Synthia helped Raven find the steps in the dark and in only a few moments they were inside of the sanctuary.
“There used to be two large doors right here,” Synthia said making a gesture with her head to each side as they crossed the threshold into the sanctuary. “The doors were taken down and sent to Pierraehal when I was 12, that is when people stopped coming to the temple. A priest in Eysturlun decided the doors were some kind of sacred artifact and ordered them returned to the temple there so that they could not be defiled. You know at one time there were over a thousand Eysturluns living in this area, but now there are only a handful.”
Elizabeth could feel the warmth radiating from the walls in the sanctuary and began to feel a strong sleep overcome her. “I’m so tired Syn, can we rest here? Is it really safe?” she asked.
“Not here. Come on lets go back to where the altar is. See there are four small cubicles on each side of the sanctuary where we are now, and a large alcove against the northwest wall where there is a small icon of Iekah, the rising sun, carved from a single piece of yellow marble. It is the altar room and it should be even warmer there,” Synthia said as she led her deeper into the temple sanctuary, “I’m tired too, and I know we will be safe there.”
The two of them sat down on the floor in front of the altar. Synthia leaned her back against the marble statue of the Eysturlun Sun God, and Elizabeth rested her head against Synthia’s shoulder, and together they fell into a deep sleep.
Elizabeth woke several hours later to find Synthia was gone. The room was still dark, and she felt very afraid.
“Synthia,” she called out trying to whisper and project her voice at the same time. “Synthia, where are you? Synthia.”
“I’m coming Raven Stay right where you are. Everything’s all right,” Synthia said in reply, as she was coming through the sanctuary doorway.
“Where did you go?” Elizabeth asked as Synthia sat down next to her. Immediately she could feel coarse wool against her check as she pressed against what she expected to be Synthia’s shoulder.
“There’s a small room off of the central area of the temple where priests once lived. It’s hidden very well, and still has some things left behind when the temple was abandoned. I found four wool robes. Here take one. It might be a little large for you but I found some lamp cord as well, and you can use it to tie up the robe so it’s snug,” Synthia said and worked the robe over Ravens head pulling her arms through the large sleeves.
“Why did the Eysturluns abandon this place?” Elizabeth asked as her head emerged from the garment.
“Because of the curse,” Synthia answered.
Elizabeth was startled and pulled away from Synthia saying in a hurried whisper, “You said there wasn’t any curse.”
“I said this place isn’t cursed, at least the curse locals go on and on about is not real. But, and I shouldn’t be telling you this, there is a curse sort of. I think we are finding out it is more like a disease than a curse, and it is slowly taking its toll on our people,” said Synthia.
“Are you trying to scare me or something Syn?” Elizabeth asked.
“No. I’m only being serious. If you really want to know, and I want to warn you, I’m not sure you will like what I might tell you, my life is what it is because of this curse.”
“You said it was more like a disease, than a curse. I don’t want to know about any curse. Where I came from some people had the power to cause a lot of hurt and misery by placing curses on others. There’s no secret to that. I’m from the islands, originally. You know what I am. I know you’ve heard them say Bascondes with the hard zee sound. No one in my family ever practiced that craft, but I saw how it was. That kind of magic scares me.”
“Magic scares you? Magic doesn’t scare me. I’ll tell you what scares me. The knowledge that some day, and I know it will be a long time from now even though that doesn’t comfort me, but someday I will lose my mind. I will not know you from a shade. I won’t be able to tell right from wrong, and if I am lucky I will die a natural death, or take my own life before the madness grows so strong that I destroy everything and everyone I love and eventually have to be put down like a rabid animal.”
“What are you talking about Synthia? Why would you think you are going to lose your mind?” Elizabeth asked, and took Synthia by the shoulders, as she could sense a great sadness welling up in Synthia’s words.
“Almost everyone of us does. That is the curse I am talking about, and why the temple was abandoned. It might take a while for me to tell the story, and if I cry that’s okay because I want you to know about me, all about me. Someday I will fall in love. Do you remember how we used to sit in the kitchen and compare our dream lovers?” Synthia chuckled and Raven relaxed her grip on Synthia’s shoulders. “I want to be a mother some day. I want, I hope, that if we, the Eysturluns, keep trying to find a cure to this affliction that I can live a happy life knowing my children might be spared the consequences of their birth. When I marry I hope we will still be friends, and I want to be able to put my trust in you. What you did for me last night was the bravest thing I have ever seen. If I live long enough, for us women it usually starts when we are in our middle to late sixties and the men sometimes as early as forty, but if I live that long and I do begin to slip away I would want you to be the one to put an end to me before I end up like my father.”
“Synthia!” Elizabeth gasped, “Don’t say those things. God forbid never happen, one, two, three,” she added, speaking an old Eshian oath meant to ward of bad luck.
“Raven, please listen to me. I want you to understand that this is something that is going to happen. It started almost three hundred years ago, and no one really knows why, and it is getting worse. When it started it only seemed to affect the very, very old, but then the next generation it was worse. Now it happens to all but only a few out of a hundred. The luckiest just drift away, rambling, they’re no danger to themselves or others, but some, maybe a third, end up like my father. Do you want to know what happened to my father, my mother, brother and sister? Do you want to know how I ended up at Camilla’s? You know if it wasn’t for her I would have died like my brother and sister.”
For some reason, sadly, Elizabeth felt she didn’t want to know. She was ashamed of herself. Always in the past she ran away from the things that hurt her emotionally. Avoiding attachments, and not letting herself feel trapped was the story of her life. Synthia had been the closest friend she had ever known. Only Synthia accepted Raven for what she was, and yet who was she after all, Elizabeth, or Raven? Why was it that she still thought of herself as Elizabeth Gilenka? If she had doubts about who or what she was, one thing was clear Synthia did not. She was Raven Hessington, Synthia’s friend and Raven wasn’t going to run away from her friend. “I want to know Synthia, about your family,” she said, “And I want you to know that you wont ever have to worry about trusting me. You’re my friend. I hope that never changes.”

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