Tanza

  Tanza

  The Astor Chronicles

  Book

  2

  Amanda Greenslade

  Publishing Details

  Tanza by Amanda Greenslade

  Published by Tigerace Books

  © Amanda Greenslade

  The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright restricted above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

  1st Edition 2016, pbk.

  ISBN: 978-1-925427-50-9

  Designer: Australian eBook Publisher

  A cataloguing entry is available for this book through the National Library of Australia

  Also available as an ebook from major ebook vendors.

  www.amandagreenslade.com

  Ebook Version

  1st Edition 2016, electronic

  ISBN: 978-1-925427-49-3 (Mobi)

  ISBN: 978-1-925427-48-6 (ePub)

  Ebook creation: Converted from digital source file

  Ebook files created and distributed by: Australian eBook Publisher www.AustralianEbookPublisher.com.au

  Author’s Note

  Tanza follows on from Talon, a story in which a young Jarian man farewelled his village and journeyed into the world in search of allies for his people. Along with his new Rada-kin, the icetiger Rekala, and Sarlice, a warrior from Lyth, Talon travelled to the great nation of Telby.

  He was betrayed and violated by the Princess Denliyan, and pursued by the enemies of his people, the Zeikas. He and Sarlice escaped through the Tanzan Chasm, heading for the safety of the legendary Kriite nation of Tanza.

  Once again I would like to thank my editors, Stephen Thompson, Wendy Sargeant, Rebecca Wylie and the late Lin M. Hall.

  Thanks also to Eve Doyle for the vector version of my hand-drawn map of Chryne, and artist Adele Sessler for artwork.

  I hope readers all over the world will enjoy The Astor Chronicles.

  www.AmandaGreenslade.com

  www.facebook.com/amandagreensladewriter

  twitter.com/starsabre

  Chryne

  East of the Kiayr Ranges

  Tanza

  Realm of the Sleffions

  Chapter One—A Storm in the Morning

  The deep mists chilled my flesh like the snow I remembered in the mountains near my home. My legs carried me forward slowly. My muscles felt stiff and strangely weakened.

  I tried to remember how I came to be here, but all I could recall from my passage through the barrier was an exhilarating sensation of flying. New smells reached me through the cold, grey fog. Greenish shapes formed ahead.

  The mists cleared and a thriving, exotic world came alive around me. The morning air tasted fresh and moist. Small thickets and stands of trees bobbed on a sea of glistening dark-green grass, and beyond the field was a mystical jungle. The sky was iron-grey, clouds looming low over the wild gardens.

  In comparison to these forests, the scrubland I had cherished back in Jaria seemed brutish and rough. Even the almighty spruces of the Kiayr Range seemed ordinary compared with the trees of Tanza. I sensed Tiaro awakening as her curiosity was piqued by my reaction to our wild, new location.

  To my right a row of trees with dark green bark gave way to a jungle filled with plants of all shapes and sizes. The ground was thick with moist leaves in varying shades from dark green to black and every now and then was a parade of striped orange fungi. Shrubs and small trees flanked the boles of the larger trees, some drooping under the weight of their yellow and purple fruit.

  My quartermaster-observation skills took over as I mentally tallied the possibilities for both human and animal consumption and use. The husks from some of the palms looked strong enough to build roof shingles. Bessed would be ecstatic to see a forest filled with so many useful materials.

  A pang of guilt washed over me for not contacting my foster father in so many weeks. I decided that as soon as I figured out where I was and what was going on I would get Rekala to reach back to Jaria using the network of Rada-kin between here and there.

  A gust of fresh air wafted over me and on it I could smell the rich earth, water from the mists or a nearby stream and overripe fruit. Vines dangled from the canopy—they were as thin as my little finger, but some held up fallen boughs thicker than me. Moss and lichen grew densely over every fallen trunk and small black lizards darted from one to the other.

  There were a lot of fallen trees, as if some giant creature had feasted here, scattering its leavings. What manner of creature would eat an entire tree?

  There were faint creaking noises coming from deeper into the forest where branches rubbed against each other.

  I peered into the darker reaches of the rainforest, forgetting for a moment who and what I was. A sense of deep satisfaction flowed through me.

  The wind drew a flurry of raindrops from the swelling womb of clouds above.

  Despite the drama of my flight through the Tanzan Chasm, the peace of the rainforest was enough to calm me. I let the muscles in my shoulders relax, stretched and flexed my toes inside my boots, and spread my fingers out.

  Anyone who could not see the hand of Krii in this place was blind—every plant, every creature had its place in the great pattern of life before me. Although the world had been changing ever since the great ash cloud, I could imagine rainforests not too different from this one being around at the dawn of creation.

  I thanked Krii for reminding me of the wider world, the world that went on oblivious to human problems.

  I heard a soft noise, like the puff of a bellows, reached down and felt the rough hair of my Rada-kin’s back.

  ‘Are you hale, beloved?’ I asked.

  She rubbed against me, exuding happiness, then flopped down on her belly to rest. I crouched down and felt over her body for injuries. The fur on her majestic face was singed and her nose was dry and blistered, but—praise Krii—her eyes had not been burned by the Zeikas.

  She lay with her nose up and eyes closed, flicking her ears as she drank in the unique sounds and smells of Tanza. ‘Aye,’ she replied. ‘Those Zeika scouts nearly had us, mind. They seem determined to capture you.’

  ‘We’re safe now,’ I said, including Tiaro in the conversation. ‘There are other Rada-kin in the distance. I can sense them mostly concentrated in an area that way—probably a town.’

  ‘I concur,’ Rekala said, impressed by my wave perceptions.

  ‘There are no Zeikas nearby,’ Tiaro confirmed.

  There were soft footfalls behind me and the sound of tall grass being swished aside, but I wasn’t alarmed. I turned as Sarlice came up to me and reached for her without even thinking about it. We embraced tightly, our bodies interlocking in a familiar way, with Sarlice’s curls brushing the right side of my chin. We rested against each other for a moment, the enormity of what we had been through just sinking in. The safety of being inside the barrier of Tanza had lifted a terrible weight off my shoulders.

  ‘Finally we’re here,’ Sarlice sighed, stepping back. ‘And you… have a sword.’

  She gestured at a white sheath buckled to the Jarian leafshard belt I was wearing.

  ‘I hadn’t even noticed,’ I stuttered.

  I pulled the shiny scabbard off the sapphire-leaf encrusted belt, staving off Rekala’s outstretched muzzle. The muscles in my arm strained as I lifted the heavy object.

  The golden hilt sported two furry skyearls, their bodies entwined, heads pointing outwards to form the cross-guard. I drew the sword from the sheath, marvelling at the cerulean-blue metal. I su
pposed I could get used to the weight with some training and exercise.

  ‘You’ve never been good with a sword,’ Rekala warned.

  ‘No better time than now to change that,’ I replied out loud.

  ‘Change what?’

  ‘Rekala was pointing out my uh… lack of practise in sword combat.’

  I felt Sarlice’s eyes on me, stealing my next sentence, and I froze, uncertain, looking at the sword.

  ‘Talon, how did you get a Tolite-kin?’ she asked.

  A tingling sensation passed through my body. ‘I don’t know.’

  She stared at the sword. ‘The Tolites must have come here to Tanza. They could have prayed to Krii to transfer the weapon-kin magic from Watercrag’s Waterfall Catacombs to the Tanzan Barrier Shield. Anyone with the gift as yet unfulfilled who came through the barrier, would have a chance of becoming bonded to one of the vacant weapons given over to the magic by the Tolites.’

  ‘Why would the Tolites come here?’ I wondered. ‘Could Watercrag have fallen and we have not heard about it?’

  Sarlice thought for a long time before answering. ‘If it happened within the last month, yes. I bonded with Henter at Nooneagle in Watercrag about four years ago. The Kriites there had been under constant threat from Reltland, which is just across the Zeika Strait. There was a battle some years back, which left Watercrag with no Rada and, therefore, no way to communicate rapidly with Lyth. I wonder if they were finally driven out and came to Tanza.’

  ‘Watercrag is closer to Lyth than it is to Tanza. Why wouldn’t they come to you for protection?’

  ‘If they needed to protect the sacred magic of Tolite bonding from the Zeikas, only skyearls would have been strong enough to get them out. Lyth has not been a safe haven for many decades. Nor do we have constructions like that shield.’

  ‘Built by the ancients, no doubt,’ I replied.

  I turned the blue blade in my hands.

  ‘What is his name?’ Sarlice asked.

  I glanced at her. Henter was strapped to her back with a quiver of black arrows.

  ‘Fyschs,’ I replied. Without even thinking I just knew.

  Sarlice grinned.

  ‘Somehow it feels alive,’ I said.

  ‘Tolite-kin are not really alive,’ she replied. ‘They aren’t separate beings like Rada-kin or Sleffion-kin.’

  ‘Or Anzaii-kin,’ I added. ‘There’s life in this earring.’

  I tapped Tiaro with my forefinger and glimpsed a slight increase in the earring’s glow reflected in my nail.

  ‘Perhaps it has something to do with the sapphire tree leaves,’ Sarlice suggested. ‘Krii knows we have lost most of our art with them. In any case your Tolite-kin is an extension of yourself. I call my Tolite-kin a “she” because she is a part of me.’

  Sarlice was standing with her hands on her hips looking outward, taking in the sounds and smells around us. The wind lifted her hair, blowing it in her face. She muttered and pulled it out of her mouth.

  Rekala jumped to her feet and bolted around the glade, caught up in the energy of the approaching storm. Dewdrops flew everywhere and she pounced at them skittishly. A shaft of morning sun penetrated the storm clouds, limning Rekala’s whiskers and hair in light.

  ‘Maybe we should find some shelter,’ I suggested, bending down to tug my Rada-kin’s tail.

  The icetiger spun around with mock-ferocity, rolled onto the ground and pummelled my knees with her back legs, the claws safely sheathed. I tickled her even more ferociously, pushing her enormous paws away.

  Sarlice weaved her way between shrubs and trees, skirting the jungle. I sensed Kestric deeper in to our left. He had been scouting the entire area, hiding himself in the shadows and keeping his waves to himself.

  He turned his attention on me and shared what he was receiving through the waves from Sarlice. A blurred outline of her formed in my mind’s eye. She stumbled over a mossy root up ahead. Her heart was beating fast and she silently berated herself. My real eyes saw her stop and look back at me. A surge of warmth swam through Kestric’s wave, followed by a strange uncertainty. Feeling intrusive, I broke the link.

  Rekala bounded into the jungle after Kestric, her immense, stripy paws leaving dents in the dew-covered lawn. I caught up with Sarlice on the crest of a hill. The wind buffeted us, carrying the scent of woodsmoke on its breath. Sarlice sniffed the air and raised her eyebrows.

  ‘Smells like dinner,’ she said.

  We walked on down the hill and I was comfortable in my awareness of there being other people nearby. I felt certain they were friendlies.

  Dark clouds streaked over us, stealing the sun from view early. At the bottom of the hill the first person was a mere silhouette against the brightness of a fire that blazed in the centre of a hollow. Despite the shelter of a huge boulder, the flames guttered and danced in the stirring wind.

  ‘Hello there,’ Sarlice called out.

  The figure dropped his pot of tea on the ground and ran to meet us.

  ‘Welcome! At last! Talon—Sarlice, I greet you.’

  We gaped at him. He bowed low, hands on his forehead. This kind of bow usually signified an oath of allegiance or service. I noticed three dark shapes on the other side of the fire. The man followed my gaze.

  ‘Your horses were wandering loose. I’ve been here waiting for you to come through the mists.’

  I glanced back the way we had come. The barrier shield was only visible in certain places. Along its lower edge was a thick layer of cloud. As the shield rounded up and over Tanza it became translucent, revealing the normal-looking sky above. Apparently it admitted the light, the wind and rain, just not any living being that was not welcome. I shook my head in wonder.

  The blood protection Sarlice had spoken of before we’d past through the barrier was Krii’s own blood. When Mortal Krii, the living embodiment of our creator, had been slain all those years ago, the great seal itself was broken. In a spiritual sense, all Kriites were covered in that blood and it granted us certain protection from evil spirits and from holy magic like that in the barrier shield. Why Tanza was the only Kriite nation to have such a fantastic barrier, I did not know, but it was an art from ancient times. Perhaps only the skyearls knew how to control it.

  From this distance the blue and purple shimmered and ran together like the surface of a pearl. Tiny bolts of lightning arced from one spot to another, creating flashes in the ball’s surface that were mirrored in the sky above us.

  ‘My name is Tivac,’ the man said.

  Returning my eyes to him, I held out my hand.

  ‘Oh,’ he said, bemused. ‘Yes, I’ve heard of this.’

  He grabbed my hand.

  Sarlice touched her right shoulder with her left hand and bowed her head. Tivac giggled with pleasure.

  ‘Ah. You know our ways, my lady. I am honoured by your fellowship greeting.’

  We approached the fire together and consumed what was left of the tea.

  ‘What was it like?’ Tivac asked. He had an open face, curious and childlike. ‘The barrier shield, I mean. It does different things for different people.’

  ‘My experience was personal,’ Sarlice replied, with a glance in my direction. ‘Put it this way: I have forgiven someone who did wrong by me in the past.’

  I knew she referred to her uncle, a man who had abused her as a young woman. She had later killed him in self-defence.

  My mind wandered to the perpetrator of my own abuse, an altogether different type of person. The Princess Denliyan’s attempts to seduce me back in the wilderness near Telby had not been unwelcome, but she had underestimated my desire to remain pure until a lifelong commitment of love. So she had drugged me and attempted to get with child.

  ‘And what of your experience, Talon?’ Tivac wondered, noticing how deep in thought I was. His eyes were so inviting I almost blurted out what I had been thinking. I wrenched my mind back to the chasm.

  ‘It was only brief, and I can’t remember clearly, but I’m sure it
challenged my commitment to Krii,’ I replied.

  Tivac nodded. ‘When the skyearls told me about you being a Tolite now, I thought maybe they were tricking me.’

  I grinned. ‘They do that?’

  ‘Oh yes.’

  ‘How did the skyearls know we were coming?’ Sarlice asked.

  ‘They sensed you passing through the shield.’ Tivac started packing up his supplies, talking over his shoulder at us all the while. ‘The skyearls are magical creatures,’ he replied. ‘In addition to their wave senses, they have a gift with water. Their bodies can convert water into shrouds, which look like clouds from the ground, but have a solid surface on top. After creating a shroud, the skyearls involved can sense it from afar and it takes small parts of their energy daily to maintain it.’

  ‘I’ve heard of shrouds,’ I said, ‘but what does that have to do with the barrier?’

  ‘It is chief among the shrouds,’ he began, ‘bearing similar properties, yet it is altogether different. It is said that three hundred of the largest breed of skyearl, the keltoars, combined forces to create it and, in doing so, gave their lives over to it.’

  A feeling of awe and excitement reverberated inside me. Perhaps it was the crisp wind, but my teeth chattered as I yawned and stretched. Rekala and Kestric returned my feelings of exhilaration and I even thought I felt a hum of recognition in the sword at my side.

  Having finished loading his gear onto his horse, Tivac gestured for us to mount ours.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Sarlice asked, glancing up at the looming storm.

  ‘It’s not far to Lantaid,’ Tivac replied. ‘We might just make it without getting wet.’

  Riding single file, we travelled over hillocks of rich green grass and skirted around large, limestone rocks. The Rada-kin padded silently along the edge of the forest, watching us.

  The relief of finally being in Tanza where we were safe from the Zeikas gave Rekala, Tiaro and I the ease to ponder on our situation.

  ‘Krii must have had a hand in your travels,’ Tiaro thought. ‘If you had remained with Lira all the way to Jesath and gone to Watercrag before Tanza, you would have found an army of Zeikas ready to spill your blood.’