02 Quetzals Flock

QUETZAL'S FLOCK
"Get up, boy! Will the taking of your life restore the life of Nijah? I see that
you are not yet two days old. Would I take your life in exchange for one who had
lived nearly seven days?"
They were questions which did not require an answer. Urartu turned to Kane.
"Welcome again, Tepe Quetzal."
Kane waited the pause which etiquette demanded.
"I greet you, Master of Dreams."
They sat on the indicated mound of hides. Kane waited for Urartu to continue.
"You have accomplished much, Tepe Quetzal. I saw the great Ship rise. To
answer your thought, I rarely leave the Cave of the Wraiths. I saw the Ship rise as the
vapours parted. I saw you visit the Night and the Coldness. I saw what few others
have seen. I saw the approaching Dwarf. I saw the Blackness and the Emptiness. I
saw what my father saw. You gave me much pleasure - for this, I thank you."
Kane cleared his throat and answered a little too soon.
"Urartu will see it all again, when the Ship rises from Jubal for the last time,
with all the people of the Gens."
He shook his head.
"Urartu is not destined to see that, Tepe Quetzal. I will remain in the Cave of
the Wraiths, until the ground bursts under my feet and the consuming fire from below
pours the melting rocks over me. I am not destined to leave the Cave of the Wraiths!
Now, Lord Quetzal, it is time for you to express your desire."
He waited for Kane to come to grips with his declaration. Kane pulled himself
together. What was his reason for coming to the Cave of the Wraiths? He was torn
between two desires. He desperately wanted to know the next steps in his quest for
Eridos - but he wanted something else - something to resolve the unrest which the
aberration with Ajanta had roused. He longed for Maia, he longed to know how it was
with her. Ajanta had been an expression of his self-willed sensuality. He started to say
something to Urartu, but the scene within the heart of the brazier started to change.
Its dull glow flared into brightness. The mist around it swirled into shapes,
indistinct at first and then, they sharpened into trees and rolling land. He heard
Nuraghe gasp, he was sharing in something he couldn't imagine. The Thanehold of
Lyot shimmered into reality. Kane was moving along a path which led from the fields
of oil crop towards the elevated terrace which surrounded the main building. He took
the path which led to the window entrance to the quarters he had shared with Maia.
His heart began to thump as he stepped into the cool of the stone walls.
A child ran towards him and stopped when he was confronted by the stranger.
He was about five or six and very dark. Kane turned, he heard her voice call the
child's name; she had called him - Krin. She was coming, he could hear her footsteps
on the stone flags. She stopped abruptly when she saw him and her hand went to her
mouth. She ran forward and into his arms. She was no intangible wraith conjured up
by Urartu. She was real and warm in his arms. They kissed hungrily and long. She
cried against his shoulder and he clung to her. He looked over her shoulder at his son,
he was a dark junior image of himself. The picture began to shimmer, like a badly
controlled holocast. Kane tried desperately to hold on to it, but it shivered into
nothingness and he was left to stare into the dull embers of the brazier. He knew there
were tears on his cheeks, but he didn't care who saw them.
"That is all, my Lord Quetzal."
Kane looked at the old man and saw compassion in his eyes.
"Have you nothing to tell me about my future, Urartu?"
He shook his head.
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