Nahla Sukaan Al Jibal woke from the dream again. She would have called it a nightmare if the imagery had been frightening instead of merely very different. So different that she literally had no reference for what she was seeing. Nahla knew that as a Shaman her dreams often held more than just pretty pictures that her mind made. Even if she was just a Shaman in training, this was still true. It was even more true for dreams that repeated. This had been the third time that she'd had this particular dream it was time to tell Temjin, her master and teacher in the art of being a Shaman about the dream. Nahla had no idea what the dream meant but knew that her teacher, the Shaman of the Uulyn Shonkar, or Mountain Hawk tribe, would.
For a moment Nahla debated waiting until morning to talk to her teacher but decided that would only annoy the older Shaman. After all Nahla knew well that details would be lost or misremembered the longer she waited to discuss the dream. So it was with reluctance that Nahla left her own tent and walked the short distance to Temjin's tent. Usha, her Temee camel and one of her oldest friends, lifted her head and looked at her with sleepy eyes. She felt the query in her mind from Usha. Not in words so much as a general feeling of asking if she needed to get up as well.
"Stay there Usha. I'm not going far. Just over to speak with my teacher for a moment." Nahla answered the unspoken question.
The Temee looked at her for a long moment before laying her head back down and appearing to go back to sleep. Nahla's other best friend was an Ashfan hound named Ryah didn't bother to ask if she was needed or wanted. She just stood up and went with the young Shaman in training to Temjin's tent. It wasn't common for an Oristani to have an Ashfan hound. If one was found with at all with the tribes it was usually only half domesticated at best and generally only used in hunting. Especially here in the Bishdan mountains the only Ashfan hounds to be found were living wild and free. Not living in the tents of the Oristani as a friend and hunting companion.
Nahla remembered when she had first seen the lanky Ashfan. It had been almost two years ago and just before she had started her training as a Shaman. Nahla had still been living in the tent of her parents with the rest pf her family.There had been an unusually heavy rainfall during the night and many of the wadis had run deep with fast moving water. A sure sign that the rain had started much higher in the mountains. While water wasn't as hard to find here in the Bishdan mountains, it would be even easier than usual with all of the wadis running so full and fast. Even the lowlands would see the benefit of all the rain that had fallen here in the mountains.
Just before dawn a piercing cry had awakened Nahla. At first she hadn't known what it was that had jolted her out of sleep. But as soon as the cry had sounded again Nahla had understood. The terror filled scream had sounded only in her mind. While she was used to hearing the thoughts and/or feelings of animals in her mind. Never had she heard a cry so filled with despair and mindless terror. Before she knew what she was doing Nahla had thrown on the first clothes that came to her hand and rushed out of the tent. She hadn't even stopped for her Temee, Usha. Fortunately for her Usha had followed her anyway.
Usha stepped in front of Nahla, stopping her forward motion quite effectively. In her mind Nahla heard Usha clearly. " You will mount me and we will both go. You will NOT go off into the night alone."
One didn't argue with the Temee when one didn't hear them in their mind. If one did hear them? Well arguing didn't bare thinking of. If only because one wouldn't ever hear the end of it. There was nothing worse than an upset Temee. Especially if it was yours. So Nahla turned back into the tent and retrieved Usha's saddle. Once Nahla had saddled Usha she had mounted and directed her mount into the blackness of the night.
It couldn't have taken anywhere near as long as it had seemed to reach the wadi. Now Nahla could hear a faint whimpering over the sound of rain and rushing water. The terror filled screaming in her mind had stopped and all that was left was a mind numbed by terror. Nahla stood at the wadis bank and looked out over the fast flowing water. About ten feet in front of her was a pile of rocks with the stump of a tree poking out of it. Down at the base of the tree, barely above the raising level of the water was a wet, huddled mass of fur. Reaching out with her mind Nahla tried to talk to the shivering creature. There was nothing but mindless terror mixed with despair. There was no way the poor creature would be able to help with its own rescue. It would all be up to Nahla to help the sodden bundle of fur that cowered under the bush.
Nahla didn't know for sure what had happened but she could guess. Some sort of creature had nested in the hollow created by rocks jumbled under the old tree stump in the middle of the wadi. The amount of rain that had fallen here was bad enough. But the poor orphan baby's mother had no way of knowing that there had been even heavier rain fall in the mountains above the wadi. The shivering baby had been extremely luck to have survived so far but the water was continuing to rise and before morning not even the rocks that had saved the poor thing so far would be above water. Nahla had to find a way to rescue it or it was going to die.
Well, Nahla had rescued the shivering mass of fur. It had turned out to be an Ashfan hound pup. The pup's mother had died trying to save her young. Only Ryah had survived the ordeal. Nahla had never seen one up close before but she knew about dogs and how to care for the pup. Nahla had made it back to the camp before everyone else had woken up. She was as wet and cold as the Ashfan pup was but that was quickly remedied. Later that very same day the Shaman had come to her and called her to begin training as a shaman. Ryah had been a part of that training from the very beginning.
She'd been twelve at the time. Now at fourteen Nahla was mostly trained in the art of being a Shaman. She only had about a year to go in her training and then she would wonder to wherever the spirits called her. Eventually she would find a clan, probably one of the Mountain hawk clans, that needed either a junior Shaman to be ready when their old Shaman retired or as a replacement because their shaman had died. After all being an Oristani was dangerous at the best of times. Being a Shaman was even more hazardous. Not all of the spirits were well disposed to any mortal creature. Some of them were outright hostile in fact. So no, being a Shaman wasn't the easy job that some, never Oristani, thought.
At the opening of her Temjin's tent Nahla paused, nervous. Part of her reluctant to wake the older shaman. Even though she knew that her teacher would want to know about the dream as soon as possible. Another, deeper part of Nahla was afraid of the dream. Afraid of what the dream meant even though she didn't know how to interrupt it. Shaking herself to stop the foolishness Nahla reached out to shake the string of bells hanging next to the door. The bells were used to announce your presence whenever the entrance flap was closed. She would let the spirits decide. If her teacher heard and told her to enter she would tell her about the dream. If she didn't then Nahla would hold the dream in her heart until she had it again.
"Come," The voice from inside the tent didn't sound like someone who had been woken from sleep. Clearly the spirits wanted her to tell about her dream sooner rather than later.
Waking
Nahla was confused. According to her teacher, Temjin, she was to go on a journey to Chuluun Toiroq, the home of the spirits. A journey that every Shaman took at the end of their training to earn the black robes of the Shaman. This is when a Shaman learned what their first task as a Shaman would be. Whether they were sent to be a junior Shaman with a large tribe that needed more than one. Or to be the only Shaman to a tribe that had lost theirs. The journey wasn't what confused Nahla. She had known that she would make the journey at the end of her training. What confused her was that she still had at least a year left in her training. Why were the spirits sending her there so soon, and alone. None of it made any sense to the practical minded young Shaman in training.
So here she was, all alone heading deep into the Bishdan Mountains towards the Sunsin Engin plateau where Chuluun Toiroq was located. Nahla had never been away from her clan, not really. Before, even when she was doing solo hunting trips or tasks that Temjin had set her. Nahla had known that if she needed help or succor of any kind, her kith and kin were at the most a couple of hours away. Now she was all alone and there would be no help or aid from anyone. It was enough to frighten anyone much less a fourteen year old who in the normal course of things wouldn't be making this journey yet, much less alone.
Normally a Shaman in training would take this trip with their teacher. The teacher would instruct their trainee in how to talk to the spirits that resided there. The spirits there were not the ones that a Shaman would talk to and/or invoke as part of their normal duties to the clan they served. No, the spirits there were both older and much more powerful. Normally the Shaman of the various clans would only commune with the spirits of Chuluun Toiroq in groups of at least two and usually more. Not alone and only during very specific times during the cycle of seasons. Even when a trainee is about to take the black and become a full Shaman of the clans, they don't go to Chuluun Toiroq alone. No one went to there alone.
Nahla had been traveling for a week now and she had never been gladder of being able to truly speak to her friends Usha and Ryah. The trip would have been unbearably lonely without their companionship to sustain her. Not to mention how much her two friends helped with food. Nahla knew that she wouldn't be eating near as well without Ryah helping her to hunt. And Usha's help with what plants were edible once she got out of the familiar mountains and into the high plateaus was just as important. But most important of all was the companionship that the two of them offered during the dark and lonely nights. It was almost unheard of for most Oristani to be alone. Only the deep hunters were ever alone for any length of time. And even they usually went out into the wilds of the Oristani lands in groups.
Nahla was just finishing setting up her camp for the night. Ryah was curled up in front of the small one person traveling tent and Usha was grazing a few yards away. Nahla had been inside of the tent setting up her bedroll and making sure that Usha's riding gear was cleaned and stowed properly. It was her final task before cooking her and Ryah's dinner before going to sleep for the night. The next thing she knew Nahla was laying sprawled out on the floor of her tent with Ryah licking her face whining.
"You wake, good. Someone has taken pack mate Usha," Nahla heard in her mind.
Nahla blinked up at Ryah for a moment. Totally confused. Why was she laying on the floor of her tent. The last thing she remembered she had been about to exit the tent and cook dinner for herself and Ryah. Had someone managed to sneak up on her and hit her? Nahla sat up slowly, gingerly checked her head for any bumps or wounds but found nothing. What was going on here. She refocused on a very impatient Ryah, What had she said, Usha was gone?
"What did you say? Usha is missing? Why would Usha wonder off?"
"Usha not wonder off silly pup. Usha taken. I hear nothing, smell nothing. All normal. Then you fall over. Not wake. Go to get Usha. Usha always help. But no Usha. Usha gone. Strange scent not tribe. Usha scent go with strange scent. Can't leave Nahla alone unprotected. Must wake Nahla so Nahla can go get pack mate Usha".
Nahla stared at Ryah for a moment. She had known that Ryah was very intelligent for a canine of any kind. As a rule all Ashfan hounds were but no where near as intelligent as She had never really seen any evidence for that impression. Up to now it had only been her personal opinion, reinforced by the long association the Oristani had with the Temee camels. Another animal that was smarter than most was very logical to Nahla. The Oristani knew that the Temee camels were about as smart as the average six or seven year child. Unlike the regular camels that the rest of the world used. That intelligence was a major reason that everyone wanted a Temee.
Ashfan hounds were about as smart as the average three or four year old. Not as intelligent as the average Temee but still smarter than the average dog. Ryah however seemed to be smarter than the normal Ashfan hound. A trait that Nahla was very grateful for just now. If Ryah had only been as smart as the average dog she would never known what had happened to Usha. Nahla just sat there for a minute trying to figure out who or what had taken Usha and had somehow managed to knock her out at the same time.
While she figured that it had been majic that had done both. The how and why of a dusba, or out clansman, being here so close to one of the most sacred places in all of the Oristani lands was another thing altogether. There was absolutely no reason for any dusba to be anywhere near here. There were established trade areas that the dusba were allowed into. The fact that this unknown entity was no where near any of those pointed to this one being a thief of some sort. Every so often the dusba would try and steal the Temee from the Oristani. After all the Temee was to a normal camel as a lizard was to a dragon. So it made sense that other people would be interested in the Temee. It was a well known fact that the Oristani almost never sold the Temee to anyone who wasn't Oristani. On the rare occasion that one was sold, the Temee was barely smarter than the average camel and no where near as smart as the Temee were.
Usha however was one of the very rare white Temee. And as such was even smarter than the average Temee. So for Usha to be missing could only mean that someone had stolen her. Nahla was not going to let that stand. No Oristani would. It was a matter of pride at the very least. Not only had this dusba stolen a Temee. They had done so on the Sunsin Engin plateau. That was when Nahla realized that she didn't even know what sex the dusba was much less what species. After all there were many different races on Ardu. And knowing which one it was would affect how it acted. Knowing how it would act was very useful information when one was chasing a thief.
"Ryah?" Nahla asked while she was packing a backpack for her to carry on her hunt for the Temee thief. "Do you happen to know what sex the dusba is? How about the species?"
Ryah looked at Nahla for a long moment. Clearly thinking about what she had asked. Finally Ryah spoke into Nahla's mind. "Strange scent is male. New strange scent. Not tribe. Not scented before. Didn't smell until after Usha gone." Ryah looked upset. She was almost cringing with her tail tucked in so much it almost disappeared into her belly fur. Clearly she blamed herself for not knowing that the thief was anywhere near the camp.
Nahla saw how upset the Ashfan hound was and comforted her longtime friend and companion. While she comforted Ryah, Nahla thought about what her friend had said. Male but didn't recognize the species. Well that left the Ashfani and Zwergin out of the running. Nahla knew the that Ryah had encountered both races multiple times when the Mountain Hawk tribe had gone to trading spots that her tribe had set up. All of the Oristani clans had designated places that dusba could come and trade with them. Nahla stopped worrying about anything other than comforting Ryah.
It didn't take long for Nahla to convince Ryah that it hadn't been failure on her part that allowed the thief to get so close to their camp. Obviously the scoundrel had used majic to approach them just as he had used majic to knock Nahla out. Just as clearly he had used majic to take Usha away. Nahla was perfectly aware that under normal circumstances there was no way anyone or anything could get a Temee to go where it didn't want to. After all a Temee was even stronger than most horses of the same size. Anything other than another Temee really didn't stand a chance of winning. With those thoughts in mind Nahla followed Ryah into the darkening night. Tracking their lost friend and family member.
Hunt
Nahla was glad she had Ryah with her. While she could of tracked Usha and the thief fairly easily nothing could or would compare with the ease that Ryah could track. After all Ryah was an Ashfan Hound and could follow a known scent train as easily as Nahla could find her way around her tent. Having Ryah with her meant that she didn't have to worry about losing the trail. It would take more than simple majic to get an Ashfan Hound off of a scent that it really wanted to follow. So far though the thief hadn't even tried to do more than the most basic of trail muddying. Did this thief, whoever they were, not think that the Temee's family wouldn't follow? How stupid was he?
All of the Oristani clans had large herds of Temee. The Oristani didn't really own the Temee though it was more of a partnership. The Temee may not be as intelligent as an Oristani but they were more than smart enough to figure out that working with them lead to better food and protection. So even the unpartnered Temee weren't forced to do anything they didn't want to do. After all you don't force friends to do things. You ask friends and as a rule the Temee complied with what they were asked. No Oristani would ever even try to force one of the Temee. The fact that the other races of Ardu did force the various animals that lived and worked with them was a major reason that the Oristani almost never traded the Temee away from the clans.
Nahla could remember when she had first met Usha. It had been at her Temee Gokh. The ceremony that all Oristani went though on their tenth birthday. It was the first step of becoming an adult Oristani. It was when you were figured to be mature enough to have a Temee companion of your own. Temjin had taken her to the Temee pens where the unpartnered Temee lived.
First Temjin had made a sacred fire to call the spirits. He had burned Ghost Blossom flowers and Dzaka root and the two of them had breathed the smoke for a couple of hours. While Temjin the Shaman communed with the spirits to learn her spirit name. The name would only be known to the Shaman, herself and the spirits. Then Temjin had taken her into the Temee pen. Around them the whole Mountain Hawk clan had gathered to see which of the Temee would choose her.
For what had seemed to be forever to the ten year old Oristani nothing had happened. Nahla had be worried that there would be no Temee for her. That even with her gift of speaking with animals she wasn't worthy or mature enough to have a Temee choose her. It had happened in the past where no Temee would choose a Oristani child. Once or twice it was because that particular Oristani's Temee hadn't been old enough to choose. No Temee would choose until they were at least seven years old and no longer had anything to learn from their mother. And although it had not happened in her clan in living memory. There had been a few, a very few Oristani that no Temee would choose. Nahla was afraid that she might be one of those. At best her Temee wasn't old enough and at worst she was totally unworthy to be partnered with one. Nahla had all of those thoughts running trough her head. Feeling more and more unworthy as the time went on.
With all of those thoughts running through her mind. Making her sweat in fear and try to swallow with a throat gone dry. Even in the Bishdan mountains that received comparatively more rain fall than the rest of the Oristani lands. It was still a high sierra semi desert. The only time that the Oristani lands in general and the Bishdan mountains specifically got any appreciable rain fall was in late fall and early winter. While it did rain at other times of the year, none of it was more than the lightest of morning dew.
That was when Nahla had heard the lightest of footstep behind her. When they wished to, the Temee could walk quieter than a leaf falling upon the snow. You would think that the Oristani knew nothing about snow but the Bishdan mountains had snow all year round at their highest peaks. Even in the height of summer snow could be found. In winter it would be snow that fell not rain in most of the range that the Mountain Hawk clans claimed.
Nahla had turned, hope filling her heart and mind, as she saw the Temee that had ghosted up to her. It was the white Temee, Usha. The only white Temee to be born anywhere in the herds of the Oristani in at least five years. Usha was only seven. Just barely old enough to be partnered with an Oristani. Was Usha going to choose to be partnered with her. The honor of being partnered with a white Temee was more than Nahla could think about. Her mind was spinning so much that she almost didn't notice when Usha had daintily stretched her neck out and licked the top of Nahla's head. Claiming her forever as her partner and friend.
The next three days were a blur to Nahla. It wasn't until the day after the Temee Gokh ended that she started really tracking what was going on around her. She had been so over whelmed by being chosen by the white Temee that it had taken that long for reality to catch up with her. The white Temee was more intelligent than the average Temee and they almost never chose to partner with a particular Oristani. The fact that Usha had chosen her was something that Nahla had never dreamed possible. Nahla felt that the spirits favored her.
Waking up with Usha next to her in the family tent was the most wonderful feeling in the world. The sun had seemed brighter than it ever had before. The air was cleaner and filled with the scent of flowers. Everything was better than it ever had in her life. It was even better than when she had first discovered that she had could speak with any animal she was around. Nahla was fairly certain that she was going to be a shaman since she had one of the shamanistic abilities. So having one of the rare white Temee choose her was beyond special.
Spirits
By the time Louksna, the larger of the two moons of Ardu, had risen Nahla had caught up to the Temee thief. It was a human. What was a zaglasan khun or god botherer of a human doing here in the Sunsin Engin plateau. The Human had set his camp up in a little hollow off to side of one of the many wadis that fed into the Sunsin Engin plateau from the northern most peaks of the Bishdan mountains. It was a good thing that it wasn't the season of rains. If it had been that stupid zaglasan khun would have died not long after the first rain had fallen. That wouldn't have bothered either Nahla or Ryah if it hadn't been that Usha would have died with him.
Nahla and Ryah careful scouted around the Humans camp. They needed to know the layout of the area before they could make a plan to rescue Usha. The two found Usha hobbled behind the flimsy tent that the thief was using. Nahla couldn't believe it, how dare that thief to hobble a Temee. It was one of the greatest insults that the Oristani knew. That someone hobble someone else's Temee. It was almost unheard of to hobble an unpartnered Temee. Hobbling one that was partnered was unbelievable.
It had taken Ryah speaking sharply in her mind to make Nahla stop and pay attention instead of rushing into the camp with her weapons ready. Fortunately for them both Ryah was able to get Nahla to see sense. So instead of charging in Nahla took stock of where everything was and made a plan. Nahla wasn't sure that it was a good plan but at least it was one. Somehow Nahla had to counter the majic that the Human had used to get Usha in the first place. At least Nahla knew that the thief couldn't see anywhere near as well as she could in the dark.
The first thing that Nahla did was send a silent query to Usha. Not words as such but a feeling of asking, wanting to know how the other felt. Was there an injury? This was Nahla's gift. The ability that made her a Shaman of the Oristani. She could speak into the mind of any animal if she was close enough. But to her Temee or her Ashfan hound she had more range to her thoughts. It was child's play for her to reach Usha's mind and find out. Once she calmed down enough to use her abilities that is.
To Nahla it had taken forever before she calmed her racing thoughts enough to reach out and touch Usha's mind with her own. At first she wasn't sure that she was going to succeed but then she felt her mind touch Usha's. Thank the spirits Nahla thought. If the thief had somehow blocked Nahla from reaching Usha her plan would be much harder to pull off. Nahla felt Usha's indignation at being hobbled but no other injury. Thank the spirits for small favors. Even if it did mean that Nahla would have a harder time getting the spirits to help since Usha was uninjured.
Very quietly, an unmoving Nahla watched while the Human thief moved around his camp. He was a chubby specimen. Not in the best of shape as far as Nahla was concerned. He wore very impracticable light weight clothes like a city dweller. Instead of the much more practicable trews and tunic with many layers of robes over them. It was very hot on the plateau during the day, even in the winter. But during the night it was as cold as it had been hot under the sun. Even the Human's shoes were only good in a city. They were sandals and his feet must be rubbed raw from all of the sand. The Oristani way of dressing dealt with both extremes without having to add or subtract any clothing at all. The Oristani footwear were low leather boots designed to help with ridding a Temee. Anyone who had legitimate business with the Clans dressed the same way. Of course anyone with a legitimate right to be in the Oristani lands would not be on the plateau at all.
She waited until the thief was within range of her sling. Nahla was very, very good with her sling so her shot was dead on to the thief's backside. Sure Nahla could have hit him on the head, most likely killing him. But then she wouldn't be able to find out whether or not he was working for someone else. Or if this little trip had been his own stupidity. Nahla was betting on his own stupidity but as Temjin said "Guesses weren't answers". So Nahla had gone for a distracting nonlethal shot. One that added insult to injury in the best way. Nahla knew she probably shouldn't be so happy about the insult to injury part but he was an interloper and deserved what he got.
The thief squawked and spun around to face Nahla. He stared at her hiding spot not able to make Nahla out in the dark night. The new moon didn't give his Human eyes enough light to see with although Nahla could see just fine. The thief raised his hands starting to mutter to himself in a language that Nahla couldn't understand. The thief's hands started to glow. Each word that was spoken making the glow brighter. Nahla wasn't worried to much about the Humans spell casting though. Before the Human could do more than start his spell Ryah appeared right in front of him.
It would have taken a stronger soul than the Human had to ignore a very pissed off dog inches from their groin. The Human froze, spell stopped mid sentence. Nahla walked into the camp knowing that the thief wouldn't move or try another spell. After all no one would do anything that would upset the growling Ashfan Hound this close to any part of the body. Much less the one that Ryah was eyeing so clearly. Nahla was able to take her time crossing the camp to reach Usha. She would free her Temee before she dealt with the stupid Human mage.
Usha was waiting with very little patience. She wanted to bite the one that had so insulted her. Nahla had to calm the Temee down while she freed her friend. First she had to get any and all information from the idiot that Ryah held prisoner. Only then Usha could take out her ire on the one who had so insulted her. As soon as Nahla had Usha freed from both the rope on her halter and the hobble the Temee's temper started to cool. Usha was grudgingly willing to wait until after Nahla had the info she needed. But not one minute longer.
Nahla walked over the the now terrified Human. Well what do you know Nahla thought to herself. He does have some brains in there. At least he's smart enough to not try Ryah's bluff. Which is a good thing since Ryah wasn't bluffing. Ryah didn't so much as move a whisker when Nahla came up beside her. Her attention was completely focused on the cringing thief in front of them both. Usha for her part stood behind the idiot that had Temee napped her. Now the fool was bracketed between a very upset Ashfan Hound and a truly annoyed Temee. At this point the only thing holding them off from doing very unpleasant things to him was Nahla and her questions.
"Be smart," Nahla growled in common. "Answer all of my questions and maybe my friends won't hurt you. Too much".
Nahla looked at the Human and realized that he was younger than she had originally thought. Depending on his answers she thought to herself, the fool might actually live through his encounter with us. Not likely but more of a possibility than if he'd been older. Not that he was likely to ever get older considering the colossal mistake of trying to steal a Temee from the Oristani.
The dumpy little man in his ridiculous clothes looked up from the Hound that was inches from his favorite body part. He was sweating profusely now. Nahla could smell the fear radiating off of him. the only thing that kept him from soiling himself was that he was frozen in fear. Nahla had never actually seen someone frozen in fear before. She had always thought that it was just a turn of phrase. But here it was right in front of herself.
It didn't take long to find out that the thief was working alone. He had thought that the reputation the Oristani had was blown out of proportion. After all the Oristani didn't have majic as he understood it. He was very very wrong. He had thought that his sleep spell would keep Nahla out of action for a lot longer and that she wouldn't be able to track him once she had awakened. He hadn't known that the Ashfan Hounds were blink dogs for one thing. He hadn't even realized that she had a canine of any kind. He had thought that she was alone and would be easy prey for him to steal from. Nahla had taught him that he was wrong on so many points.
So Nahla did what the Oristani always did with thieves and trespassers. She took all of his gear and his shoes. Leaving him with only a water bottle and a days ration. "The spirits will choose your fate Trespasser," Nahla said distastefully in common so the man could understand her. "Just as they always do. You will walk home from here. Pray the spirits are kind to you".
"But I will die!" he almost screamed in terror as she turned and mounted Usha.
Nahla waited for Usha to stand again before she answered him. Looking down upon the thief as he started to reach out to her. Everything about him begging for her to change her mind. "If that is the spirits will so be it. They will decide your fate dusba. The spirits have decreed this fate of anyone who goes where they should not," Nahla replied from the Usha's back.
Ryah trotted up to Usha and Nahla. Carefully avoiding the camel the thief had ridden so it wouldn't shy away and cause problems. Before the thief could say anything else Nahla flicked Usha gently, giving her the signal to move out. Hey, I even made a bit of profit from this.Nahla thought to herself. I will be able to sell the camel. It's actually in really good shape. Considering that the thief knew nothing about our land. With that thought Nahla put the thief out of her mind and headed back to her camp and interrupted night. Bed was going to be wonderful and considering how tired she felt maybe her sleep would be dreamless.
Spirits
A week after the encounter with the thief, Nahla reached Chuluun Toiroq. The ruin was located in a pocket valley at the edge of the Sunsin Engin Plateau. From a distance all that you could see was the very tops of the ruin. It's circular shape one that is never found in nature. Nahla hadn't approached the site at first. She would have to ritually cleanse herself before she set foot into the circle of the ruins. The cleansing ceremony was going to take the rest of today and all of tomorrow before Nahla was ready to actually enter the ruin to speak with the spirits there.
Two days later Nahla walked into the ruin. Usha and Ryah stayed behind at her camp just outside of the valley the ruin was in. As far as Nahla knew this was the only place that the Oristani didn't bring their Temee to. Only the Shaman and their apprentices enter the sacred site of the spirits. In front of her was a large stone floored circle that was open to the air. The circle was as far across as a large Oristani encampment. Nahla had no clue what stone had been used to make either the walls or the floor of the ruin. All she knew was that she had never seen its like anywhere else. As far as she knew no one knew what the stone was only that it wasn't found in nature anywhere.
In the absolute center of the ruin was a stone alter that was blackened with the remnants of countless fires. Over the generations every Oristani Shaman that had ever come to commune with the spirits had built their sacred fires on that alter. Nahla would do the same. She took out her wood for the sacred fire keeping her mind on reaching the spirits. Nahla was more than a little afraid. As far as she knew no other had ever come to Chuluun Toiroq to speak with the spirits alone. The Shaman to be always came with their teachers. All except her. Nahla was fairly certain that she didn't want the honor of coming alone. The spirits had killed the unready that tried to speak to them before and she had no interest in being the next example. But Temjin had sent her here and she knew that he wouldn't have done so if she wasn't ready to be here. Nahla kept that fact in her mind and didn't allow herself to fear.
After building the sacred fire Nahla sat on the ground in front of the fire. Her hands rested lightly on her thighs palms up. She started the process that would open her mind to the spirits of this place. If she did it correctly she would be safe if she faltered and allowed herself to fear she would die. First she focused on the fire on the alter in front of her. Letting the image of the sacred fire fill her mind til that was all that she saw. Then slowly, she separated herself from her senses and the world around her until all that she knew was the fire.
Eventually Nahla was suspended in the timelessness that she needed to speak with the oldest spirits know to her people. Her eyes slowly closed though she could still see the fire before her. she was both one with and removed from the world around her. Her mind had expanded to take in everything but nothing registered for more than the briefest of moments. Nahla was suspended in a state of total receptivity. It was the only way to speak with the spirits of Chuluun Toiroq and live.
That was when the spirits appeared to her. Nahla felt the spirits arrive. Even if she had had her eyes open she wouldn't have seen them appear. One moment Nahla was alone and the next there were twelve presences there with her. Like all of the spirits that Nahla had seen the twelve where more shadows and hint then anything solid. She knew that when she opened her eyes what she would see. There would be twelve forms, each one appearing to be an Oristani Shaman. Temjin had told her that no one ever saw the same thing twice. And that the spirits would look different to each viewer. Nahla bowed her head and waited to be addressed. It didn't do to speak to the spirits before they spoke to you.
"Lift your eyes child," one of the spirits said. Nahla heard the voice in her mind. Much the same way she heard the animals that she spoke with. The impression of the weight of the ages as much as the words themselves.
The sound of the voice in her mind resonated along her nerves. It was the most beautiful sound that she had ever heard. She looked up at the amorphous shapes in front of her. Their forms were transparent and poorly defined but were without a doubt Oristani Shaman. The spirits were hovering above the ground. Six on each side of the alter that the sacred fire still burned upon.
Temjin had said that the spirits had once been powerful Shaman who had either chosen or been chosen, no one was sure which, to stay and help guide the Oristani. They also had final say on who would become a Shaman. If you succeeded than you received the black robes of the Shaman and they would tell you what your life's task would be. If you failed then you died and went to the spirit realm forever. Nahla had no problems believing that.
Nahla felt a brief flash of joy, she had succeeded and as such she was now a Shaman of the Oristani. She didn't have the black robes yet. Usually you would be given your black robes by the Shaman who accompanied you to Chuluun Toiroq for your trial. Since Nahla had come alone there was no one to giver her the black robes. She would have to return to Temjin to receive the black robes. It never once crossed her mind that Temjin might think she had cheated and not actually come and tried to summon the spirits. Temjin would know if she had succeeded as soon as he saw her, any Shaman would.
Still Nahla would serve her people to her utmost. This was something she had wanted to do for her whole life. It was a hunger that would never be sated. The feeling of happiness was brief. All of Nahla's focus was on the spirits before her. Anything less was a fatal distraction. Besides the sight in front of her was beautiful beyond description. It was everything Nahla had come to believe communing with the spirits of Chuluun Toiroq would be.
"You must travel child. Away from the clans," Nahla was dismayed. She had never considered that she would have to leave the clans.
"You must travel to Alkadharam child. Once you are there the next steps will be shown to you," the spirits continued.
Nahla wanted to protest. She knew that some went out from the clans to be Tokh Ghokh or story bringers. It was those that went out o other lands that brought back knowledge. It was an honor to go out and learn. But in the past they weren't sent out until they were adults. She wasn't yet fifteen, she hadn't done any of the rights to be an adult. Nor would she be a Shaman until she was given the black robes by Temjin. How could she go out while still a child. She couldn't even bargain with the dusba, the outsiders, if she wasn't an adult. Her clan would think that she had failed if she didn't return to get her robes. It was all to much, Nahla was overwhelmed.
As if they were reading her mind. Something Nahla had no problem believing. The spirits spoke again in her mind. "Do not fear. We know what you need."
She couldn't tell if it was only one spirit or all twelve that spoke to her. There was an odd echo to their voices in her mind. Nahla could have listened to it forever. Before she had properly understood what the spirits had said a neatly folded set of black robes appeared between the alter and herself. The fire burned on the alter giving off plenty of light. No one had placed the robes on the ground before her, they just appeared.
Nahla was amazed, she had never heard of a Shaman getting their robes from the spirits themselves. The spirits were given her the black. It was an honor that was mind blowing to her. How had the spirits gotten the robes there. In the deepest part of her mind Nahla wondered. Even as she reached out to take the robes the spirits had given her. Nahla had known that the spirits of Chuluun Toiroq were the most powerful of all the spirits. But she had never guessed that they could make things appear from no where. Nahla kneeled in front of the spirits, head bowed in respect. She felt totally unworthy of the honor she had received.
"We misspoke when we called you child. For you are no child but an adult of the Oristani. Thus you must take on an adults burden and go to Alkadharam," The spirits statement made Nahla's head snap up. Stunned amazement on her face. She had not expected to be given adult status as well as her robes. Was she dreaming? This was almost to much honor. The thought that she wished Temjin could see this flashed through her mind and vanished almost as fast as it arrived. Yet again the spirits seemed to read her mind. Answering a question Nahla hadn't realized she had made.
"We will tell Temjin that you have been given the black from our hands. That you are an adult and what task we have given you. Your people will know that you journey to the outlands at our direction."
The final sentence echoed over and over in Nahla's mind. She reeled in place, almost falling out of her kneeling position. When Nahla had regained her balance she looked up where the spirits had stood. All that was in front of her was the remains of the sacred fire she had lit on the alter. The reason for her dizziness was instantly apparent to Nahla. Instead of slowly regaining her awareness of the world around her. She had been abruptly out of the state that allowed her to speak with the spirits back into the mortal world. Temjin had told her that coming back like that was possible but disorientating. Boy had he been right.
A month later a black clad Nahla looked down at the boat that would ferry her across to Alkadharam. It had taken some serious talking to get Nahla to agree to get onto that boat. She had to agree with the Temee. The thing looked like it might sink as soon as they got away from shore. All three of them could swim but Nahla had never seen anything like the bay in front of them. This was only the start of her journey. Adventure awaited her in the city the spirits had sent her too.
