Warriors of the Sun God - A Fantasy Novel

Warriors of the Sun God is a fantasy saga in serialized format. Follow the story of the quest. This page updates every M/W/F. Navigation buttons are below.

Into the Light-6

I stepped back and met his eyes. He still dazzled, but I was beginning to see through the dazzle. And what I saw made me think he spoke the truth. I then looked up at the sun and hurried back in. Just before I closed the door to shut him out, I turned. "I heard crying yesterday. If that is your aunt, I will find her." I then shut the door and scurried away from his startled expression.

The night could not pass quickly enough for me. The shuttle flew in my hands, weaving soft thread into softer fabric. And something from myself was pulled into the fabric as well, spun out of my essence. It was not visible, but I could feel myself weakening into the fabric. What was this cloth I weaving?

Lisulli walked into the room at one point when I was stretching out my hands. She looked at the pile of cloth and made unsettling noises deep in her throat. "Is this the best you can do?" she asked finally.

I met her gaze. "Yes." I could do no more.

"Well. Keep it up, then." She stared at me for a long moment. That warmth in my chest felt like it would explode and devour us both. Finally she turned away. "Is there anything you require?" she asked in a tone that indicated the answer had better be no.

"My needs are met, but I am lonely," I surprised myself by saying.

She snorted. "What, you think I would bring another giggling girl here? You would talk and never weave. Learn to live with your loneliness, child. It is the one thing I will not change." She left, and I followed her with my eyes, curious. Why only one person to weave at that? Two people would go twice as fast. If speed was what mattered, her insistence on just one made no sense. I sat myself again at the loom, but my mind was anywhere but on my work.

I found myself strangely unexhausted when light flooded the horizon. Lisulli had made it clear that my days were my own, so I stopped weaving and stretched, pacing a bit. I knew I would not sleep if I went to rest now. Perhaps there was something else to find in the hard-edged morning.

Again, the place was eerily silent. A quick peek on the balcony told me that Perin was elsewhere, which I'd expected. I would have been more worried had he nothing to do but wait for me. I did step out into the cold sunlight for a long moment, letting it wash over me and replenish me.

What had he said when he'd kissed my forehead the first time? Live freely in the light. I wondered what he'd meant by that, and why he hadn't wished me freedom in the darkness, given that I spent far more time there. What freedoms could I possibly have? I looked out over the balcony and into the sun, and it did not blind me.

I don't know how long I stood there. At length, though, I grew tired and went to bed. My head was full of fragmented thoughts.

When I woke, it was late. I hurried to the balcony to see a bird sitting on the rail. When it saw me, it hopped down to the balcony and turned into Perin. "I wasn't sure I'd see you today."

"Why?" Today I found myself undazzled by him. He was still golden, still sparkled in the light. But I saw through that now. What I was left with was a man that was sometimes a bird, and I wondered if Lisulli had spoken the truth. Was Perin the one that wished my death? I watched him and wondered. He had said that he'd found the bodies. Had he killed them too?

"I only saw Elena twice before Lisulli killed her."

"And yet you wished me to see you anyway?"

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