Pariah

By K. Margaret Smith

Chapter 1: The Temple

The heat that beat down from the midday sun and radiated back from the near endless expanse of dunes was enough to make even the Bedouins huddle in their tents or burrow down into the sand to find even the slightest shade. Even the camel seemed to be trudging slower, desperate for respite from the constant heat. But to lithe feline form that sat perched on the weary camel's back, the heat and the light that poured down from the faded blue sky was pure heaven. Lehnah stretched, her pale golden skin glowing in the intense sunlight. Her dress, a short, desperately thin shift blocked little of the light and showed most of her body quite clearly, her long blonde hair cascaded down over the arm of the seat and hung swaying in the breeze. The aisha flexed her legs, drinking in the warmth as a plant might do, and fingered one of the gold bands around her ear stalks.

Lehnah had studied elemental focus since she was a teenager, when her tutors in the Altadorian court had recognized her gifts. The women in her family had been priestesses to Siyana, a powerful light faerie and one of the protectors of Altador. In return for years of faithful service, Siyana had gifted them with light magic. At thirteen, Lehnah's tutors began noticing telltale signs that the elemental magic had manifested in her. She would linger for hours on the rooftops sunbathing, and when she would return her skin would show no signs of either tanning or sun burning, but the young girl would appear even more vibrant and energetic, her skin and hair still luminous, as though the light had simply absorbed into her.

She had spent the next seven years in the marble halls of the capitol learning to hone her gift, but she had always delighted in finding hot spots, natural wellsprings of power and light. She had danced in the mouth of a crystal cave on the cliffs of Altador, on the craggy mountaintops to the east, and had even met one of her closest friends during a reverie in a sunlit meadow in Brightvale. Her travels had finally led her south into the desert, in search of some nearly forgotten temple she had read about in a nameless old tome in the archives of Altador. She was perhaps ten miles into the dunes now, easily a day's journey from the nearest city, although she had passed a band of wagons the day before on the hardpan. It had been a band of gypsies, skirted women with flowing hair bustling around, tending to children or laundry or to one of three large pots that hung bubbling over crackling fires. Lehnah hadn't seen a single male among them between 15 and 50, out hunting she assumed, but there were at least three women in fitted leather breeches and boots instead of the flowing skirts, and on two of the three she could see daggers in their belts. She would be willing to bet there were more in their boots and perhaps a curved stiletto hidden in the bodice of their silk shirts.

There was a somber mood about them, which was unusual, at least from what Lehnah had seen of the northern gypsies. Their camps were always full of songs and joyously raised voices. Here there was scarcely a voice heard, except the occasional call of a child to its mother. In the other camps, the children had always been running around, chasing their dogs or each other, here they simply sat close to the wagons and tents, prodding at the hardpan with their shoes.

As Lehnah approached, one of the women, a sour-faced, gray haired zafara tending to a bucket of laundry spotted her, and obviously did not approve of such flimsy attire. Or perhaps did not approve of strangers at all. She raised a soapy hand and forked the mano cornuto at the aisha and spat between her forked fingers. Lehnah had straightened and the smile that had sprung on her lips withered. She'd considered for a moment trying to camp with them that night, but seeing the old woman's reaction, and looking around further to see the glares of the women hurriedly covering the younger children's eyes, it was obvious she wasn't welcome there. She had camped by herself that night with only the rather disinterested camel to keep her company.

Lehnah sighed and pulled herself up in the seat. She didn't understand some people. Warriors were renowned for their battle prowess, vicious acts of violence rewarded with respect. But show them a bit of skin and you might as well have threatened their children with disembowelment. This double standard was one reason why she loved dressing so provocatively. Lehnah positively loved pushing peoples' buttons, and what better way to do so than to flaunt something that stirred up such wildly different reactions? Men stared at her openly, or tried as slyly as they could to eye her up discreetly. The younger ones often looked at her with bewilderment, and in the case of a few young ladies, even a touch of admiration. Women though, most of the looks she got from them were shocked, spiteful, sometimes even disgusted. One rather memorable trip to a marketplace in Brightvale had ended with an incensed woman storming up to Lehnah, knocking her shopping basket out of her hands and backhanding her across the face. Hard. Apparently the woman's husband, easily the homeliest looking ogrin Lehnah had ever seen, had been watching the aisha's slow progress around the outdoor market just a little too closely for her taste. Lehnah had been too shocked to do more than stare at the belligerent woman. She hadn't even been wearing anything particularly revealing that day, although the powdery blue dress had, for it's high neckline, clung quite tightly to Lehnah's breasts. Those always seemed to be the root of the problem. She had worn dresses so short they could have passed for a cropped tunic, but her legs didn't get her into half the trouble her breasts did.

Lehnah gave a little "hmph," and let her eyes adjust again to the bright desert sun. She would never understand why people were so frightened and disgusted by the very things the gods had given them. As the glare in her eyes subsided, her pulse quickened with excitement. While she had been lost in her own thoughts, her camel had slowly skirted one of the giant, towering dunes, and she now had a clear view of the valley ahead of her. The valley itself was vaguely bowl-shaped, its western edge disappearing into the foothills of the mountains. In the center of this bowl of sand, so alien to the area it seemed to have fallen from the sky, was a glistening white and gold structure of what appeared to be marble, made up of a huge, glittering central dome ringed in smaller domed chambers. Ringing the structure was a thick swathe of verdant green, easily the largest oasis Lehnah had seen in her travels.

Lightheaded with excitement, Lehnah nudged the camel forward toward the glittering domes, although she scarcely needed to; the animal had caught wind of the water and greens that encircled the building. The camel quickly made it to a trot and within a few minutes it was nibbling contentedly on the greens by a shaded pool as Lehnah slipped down onto the impossibly cool grass. It was much cooler here, but to Lehnah's senses, just as full of energy as the high desert sun on the dunes, perhaps even more so. As she made her way across the oasis courtyard to the alabaster steps of the entryway, relishing the soft, cool grass under her bare feet, she could see the mosaic on the arched entrance. The pale marble had been clad in an opaque, deep blue stone. The left pillar bore a crescent moon inlaid in opalescent moonstone, the right a ten-pointed star whose sparkle could only mean diamond. Lehnah's eyes widened. The star was one solid cut diamond, its width easily the length of Lehnah's forearm. The acquisitive side of her practically fell over itself with a desire to touch the giant gem. She pried her eyes away from the star with some degree of difficulty and brought them up to the top of the arch. She cooed appreciatively. At the apex, surrounded by filigreed rays of gold, was a glowing gemstone sun, set in polished chips of amber and yellow jade.

As the last of the sun-beaten heat faded from her skin and absorbed into her core, Lehnah became more aware of the energies that flowed around her, a gentle, rippling current that flowed directly out of the stone edifice before her. She opened her mind's eye and now she could actually see the flow. A watery tide of mingled silver and gold poured down the steps in front of her like some ethereal waterfall. The walls and columns rippled with the same flow, and the air was thick with a swirling mist of the same gold and silver color. The glowing golden warmth of the sun and the pale, watery coolness of a moonlit night coursed through the place. Lehnah grinned up at the shimmering stones. The old tome had been right. She had found the Celestial Temple.

Her legs trembling, her lungs reluctant to take in more than the slightest gasp of air, she mounted the steps and made her way into the temple. The stone was warm, the air cool. The floor was the same gold-veined marble as the columns, occasionally inset with pale lavender lotus-shaped tiles. The first chamber was spacious; a small raised garden occupied the center, climbing with some yellow and white bell-shaped flowers that Lehnah had never seen before. Lehnah brushed one of the golden bells with a gentle fingertip, smiling as the touch released a warm, cinnamon like perfume. She wished furtively that Aadhlei could have accompanied her here. If there was one person that could have shared in the excitement of this find, it was Aadh. But she had family to tend to, a house that had to be looked after, a garden that required her constant care, and a business to tend. Aadhlei sold remedies and potions in a small shop out of Brightvale. She didn't run the shop, as a matter of fact the only times she went there was once a fortnight to deliver more goods and pick up her earnings from the last two weeks. She was simply a supplier.

There were no doors here; each chamber was connected to the next by a wide archway framed in wispy drapes of white silk. She came to an immense room with a recessed lotus-shaped fountain bubbling away at the center. Gold-clad marble pillars stretched nearly thirty feet in the air to a domed glass skylight. Shafts of golden sun bounced and played off of the dancing water. Deep emerald green showed through two archways here; a garden grew in an adjoining crescent shaped chamber. A wide altar sat between the two garden doorways. Her head swam a little from the steady hum of energy and the perfumes that drifted in from the garden. Honeysuckle, rose, lily-of-the-valley (one of Aadhlei's favorites, Lehnah lamented), calendula, an orange blossom filled her nose. There was some kind of incense, the musky-sweet odor suggested frankincense and myrrh, burning on the altar, and it mingled sweetly with the scent of the flowers that had no business blooming so hardily in the desert, oasis or not.

The gentle tinkling of the fountain rang in her ears, and from somewhere in the garden she could hear the clear, sweet tones of a songbird. Her skin began to tingle from the power that flowed around her, and Lehnah dropped with shaky legs in front of the flower-strewn altar. The temple was both blissfully serene and incredibly heady, and Lehnah's senses were in danger of overloading before she even began her meditations. She took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on one sensation instead of a dozen, and dimmed her senses down until all she could hear, all she could sense was the trickling fountain. Her mind once again under control, Lehnah closed her inner eye tightly. She wasn't prepared to have all her senses open to this place. There was simply too much to take in.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, focusing on the three statues on the stone altar. It was the Sky-Sisters, three ancient, celestial faeries mentioned only in passing in the tome that had given the location of the temple. All three were delicately carved from gemstones with subtle gold and silver embellishments. The central figure was the only one of the three Lehnah actually recognized, but this didn't surprise her. There had been dozens, maybe hundreds of obscure, half forgotten faeries in the old tomes she had read in the archives of Altador, and several nameless faeries that seemed to only exist in old paintings, mosaics, and etchings.

In the center, carved in yellow jade and amber, was Siyana. Her wings carved in paper-thin citrine wrapped in thin bands of gold. Her right hand, no bigger than the tip of Lehnah's finger yet detailed enough to include a tiny gold ring and gently rounded fingernails, held a blazing amber sun. On the left, with her back towards Siyana, was a pale, glimmering figure of alabaster and moonstone. The level of detail, which had been impeccable in the statue of Siyana, was simply breathtaking here. The faerie's long, silver-white hair was coiled and looped in braids held up with silver bands. A silver band formed the belt at the waist of her white gown and the clasp – a full moon flanked by a waxing and waning crescent – on her silvery-blue cloak. Silver threads formed delicate swirls on her pale crescent shaped wings, and her eyes were shining silver orbs that gleamed serenely at Lehnah. A crescent shaped lantern of intricate silver filigree dangled from the moon faerie's alabaster hand. The final statue, what could only be the star faerie, stood on the opposite side and was poised as though in mid-turn, her skin the same alabaster as her lunar sister. Her hair, tossed by her spin, was blackest jet shot through with seamlessly inlaid veins of some dark blue stone and dotted with tiny diamonds. Lehnah admired the effect: a star-studded night sky caught up in the faerie's dark tresses. The effect was mirrored in the faerie's flowing gown, gossamer wings, and dark, smiling eyes. A diamond ten-pointed star glittered in the statue's cupped hands.

Lehnah kissed the tip of one finger and gently touched it to the base of each statue, remembering a chant that had been scribbled in the margins of that old tome and changing it slightly to suit her purposes. "Silvered one of the crescent moon," Lehnah began, her voice resonating strangely in the vast stone chamber, "pale ruler of the starry skies. Rayed lady of the shining sun, forgotten sisters of the sky. I call to you in this holy place and pray you send your blessings down upon my meditative rite."

Lehnah breathed deeply, filling her lungs with the heady scent of flowers and incense. She lay back, feeling the sun warmed marble through the thin shift of her dress, and slowly opened her senses again. She took her time, letting her mind adjust to the heightened awareness before allowing more of the magic to flow into her. Working slowly, she began to weave the magic around her in glimmering gold-silver strands, making the weave more intricate as she absorbed more power. She was aware on some surface level of a growing light outside her closed eyes, a light that matched the glow of the gossamer threads she saw shimmering around her with her inner eye, even as the sun began its descent behind the mountains. The air around her shimmered with a rippling golden light that grew brighter and brighter. When the last delicate thread was securely in place, Lehnah sent a rippling wave of energy through it, which the weave reflected back into her.

Lehnah's nerves were on fire with a delightful heat. Her mind reeled as she felt her body become a magical feedback loop, drinking in power and sending out twofold. She felt weightless, as if flying, or being carried on a smooth wave. She went with it gladly. She had performed this meditation dozens of times, each time more intense than the last as her gift was honed, but this was by far the most powerful experience she'd ever had. How long she kept her reverie for, Lehnah wasn't certain, although she was vaguely aware of a shift in energies as the sun set and the cold desert stars came out one by one. Reluctantly, Lehnah began releasing the weave and slowly closed herself off to the flow of energy.

The weave finally dissipated, Lehnah stretched languidly and smiled as she opened her eyes. The marble dome was filled with a mellow silvery-blue light. Thousands of stars glittered down at her through the glass dome. The air was much cooler now, enough to give the aisha goose bumps as a breeze drifted in from the garden, carrying the scent of night-blooming jasmine. A nice, long bath and a good meal were all she could think of now, although she had no idea where she'd get either in the middle of the desert.

She was pondering if any of the fruit trees she'd caught wind of had born any fruit ripe enough to eat when a loud grunt from the camel outside made her bolt upright. The animal brayed again, a frightened sound, and Lehnah heard the soft, quick thuds of the camel's feet on grass as it bolted. Lehnah scrambled to her feet, her eyes struggling to adjust to the dark enough to make out what had spooked her only transportation into abandoning her. Shuffling, dragging steps across the marble and faint, ragged breaths made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Lehnah's muscles tensed and she took up a defensive stance as she realized her only weapon, a dagger, was still in one of the bags tied to the camel. She cursed under her breath. She was answered with a hoarse wail from the thing that drew slowly towards her. A hunched shadow shambled through the doorway into the main chamber, the soft light illuminating next to nothing on it. It raised a clutching hand and rasped something that might or might not have been a word.

Terrified and unarmed, Lehnah did the only thing she could think to do. She called up a sunburst, throwing her arms toward the thing and flooding the room with a bright light, hoping to blind the thing long enough to escape. She knew a transport spell, but that took time and a calm mindset. She didn't trust herself to transport an inch right now without accidentally leaving an important body part behind. Her gamble paid off as the creature cried out hoarsely and stumbled into the fountain where it collapsed, covering its eyes and whimpering. Lehnah prepared herself to run, but in the lingering light of the sunburst, the cowering creature was clearly exposed. She had expected a sand wraith, or something equally monstrous and alien. What lay crumpled and trembling in the fountain was only vaguely recognizable as what it once was, but it was far from alien. It was a woman, and although her arms were raised over her face, Lehnah could see the long ears that could only mean a zafara. Her tanned skin was ashen and cracked from the dry desert heat, her clothing, what little there was left, was torn and covered in sand. She rasped something and choked, still trying to speak through her parched, dehydrated throat. Her trembling hands still covered her eyes.

"Oh dear god," Lehnah whispered and slowly approached the woman. She held her hands out, palms first, trying not to scare the poor thing anymore than she already had.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. Are you alright?" Lehnah immediately felt a moron for asking such a stupid question. Aside from dehydration and exposure, the woman was perfectly fine. The woman made no sign that she heard or understood her, but she trembled more violently. The water splashed around her legs. It was a measure of her fright or her delirium that she seemed to remain oblivious to the water she crouched in. Lehnah knelt by the fountain, adjusting her skirt with one hand and reaching to take one of the woman's upraised arms. Her fingers reached the raw, cracked flesh and the woman cried out in pain. Lehnah flinched and withdrew her hand. The woman's skin had felt like brittle paper.

"I'm sorry," she said again, "I only want to help you." Lehnah laid a gentle hand on the woman's hair. She flinched a little, but remained in her defensive stance.

"Please," Lehnah said in the softest, calmest voice she could muster, "let me help you."

Slowly and jerkily, the woman lowered her arms.

"Oh god." Lehnah felt the air rush out of her. "Oh, you poor thing. What happened to you?"

The woman's face was as raw and cracked as her arms. Small cuts formed bloodless lines on her cheeks and around her mouth. Her eyes, large dark brown orbs, were dull and sunken in her gaunt face. Her hair was filthy, a tangled, sand-matted mess. She was hardly clothed for desert travel (not by normal standards anyway). A cropped silk shirt that might have been orange once was thin and so torn Lehnah was amazed it was able to stay on. Her breeches had fared better, but even they were ripped and frayed. There was a dark red stain on the hip that looked as though it carried around to the seat, but Lehnah couldn't be sure.

Lehnah swallowed hard and held her arms out. "Let me help you, little one," she said, smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "I'll take care of you."

The woman's face went ashen and she fainted into Lehnah's outstretched arms. Lehnah grunted and pulled the woman from the fountain, intending to lay her on her back, but a glimpse of more dark red underneath her long matted hair made her carefully lay her on her side instead. As the zafara's feet came dripping from the water, Lehnah saw with a growing dismay that they were bare, and as she circled the unconscious woman she saw the soles were blistered and cut. Lehnah laid the woman's hair aside and choked. Her hair, back, and clothes were caked with dried blood. Long, ragged cuts covered her back, the wounds clogged with sand and scabs. Some of her hair remained stuck to the wounds, glued into place by the dried blood. She had been lashed, stripped of her boots and any cloak or robe that could have protected her from the harsh elements, and left to die in the desert.

"Who did this to you?" Lehnah whispered, shocked.

Nevermind who did this to her, she thought. She's been out here for days, maybe weeks, and between dehydration, exposure, and blood loss, if I don't get her to a healer soon, she's dead. And then again, she might well die anyway, even if their only transport wasn't miles away by now. Teleporting was an option, but 'risky' didn't even cover it. Lehnah didn't even know if she could teleport with another person in tow. Where to teleport was another problem. She'd have to have the location first, and she'd need somewhere where she could get the poor woman to a healer, a good one. Lehnah only knew of one person skilled enough in healing to give this woman even a fighting chance, and she knew exactly where to find them.

The distance, however, was staggering. A thousand miles at the very least. The furthest Lehnah had ever gone was half a mile, and that had been just herself. But that had been before she had left Altador on her pilgrimage, her powers were stronger now, and she was sitting on a wellspring of energy. Her jaw clenched, Lehnah gathered up the injured woman into her arms as gently as she could, and opened herself to the energy of the temple one last time. Closing her eyes, she began building an image of her destination in her mind, adding more and more details as she drank in more power. Lehnah built the house up in her mind, a three-story wood and stone cottage on the edge of a lush forest. She conjured up the garden that wrapped around the house; flowers, herbs, vines, bushes and trees, all with a purpose and a carefully chosen place. By the time Lehnah was done, every leaf and petal was where it should be, every crevice in every stone accounted for. Her muscles shaking with the strain, Lehnah finally released the energy in a thunderclap.

A roaring sound filled her ears and the air was sucked from her lungs. Her stomach lurched as she was jerked forward as by some invisible rope. There was a moment of seeming weightlessness where the marble that had been beneath her seemed to disappear. Another lurch hit her, and then a dizzying sensation of falling…and then a sudden grounding as Lehnah felt a cool carpet of soft grass underneath her folded legs. Her pulse raced in her ears, which still rung from the roaring of the spell, but through it she could faintly hear the sweet song of a nightingale. As the dizziness subsided, Lehnah opened her eyes and grinned up at the cottage. Firelight flickered welcomingly through the windows downstairs.

Fatigue overwhelmed Lehnah as she clung to her thankfully still living cargo. Too weak to stand, let alone carry the unconscious woman inside, Lehnah gathered up her remaining strength and shouted as loud as she could.

"AADHLEI! AADHLEI!"

The zafara in her arms groaned weakly. The door of the cottage flew open and two shadows filled the doorway.

"Lehnah?!" The familiar voice was such a relief that she nearly swooned.

"I need your help, Aadh," Lehnah called, fighting off a second wave of dizzying exhaustion. "She's hurt badly."

Lehnah heard voices after that, but she couldn't make anything out. Strong hands lifted the injured woman from her lap, and a second pair caught her as she began to fall forward. She felt herself being lifted, and then she fell into the cool, waiting darkness.