What twisted ideology was worth the carnage they wreaked, and all those lives they took?
Sensing my distress and wanting to comfort me, Chicha whined softly and pressed against my chest. I stroked her shaggy fur, the rhythmic motion slowly calming the storm in my mind.
"I'm sure the Guard will investigate his background," my father said. "They'll find his family if he has any." He paused, studying Alar. "You seem to suspect something. What is it?"
Alar set his cup down carefully. "I know that treason seems unlikely to you, but people are people, and they are motivated by different things. Terris might have been in financial trouble and agreed to do the unthinkable against his own for money. Or he might have harbored a vendetta against the shaman. Perhaps when he was a young pilgrim himself, the shaman declared him ungifted, and Terris vowed to kill him one day and sabotage the entire tradition of pilgrimage. It's also possible that the Shedun held someone dear to him hostage, and the only way he could free that person was to do their bidding. Those are all just some of the hypotheticals I came up with on the spot, and each oneis possible. You shouldn't think that treason will never happen because Elucians adhere to the Precepts of Truth."
My father didn't dismiss Alar's suggestions out of hand as I'd expected. Instead, he rubbed his chin. "I'm not naive, Alar. And Elucians are far from perfect. The guards patrol the square regularly, so someone would have noticed strangers loitering near the planters and the stage long enough to plant multiple bombs. But a local who had reason to be there? They wouldn't have paid him any mind. Terris could have done that."
"That's impossible," my mother said, but I could see doubt creeping into her expression. "No Elucian would help the Shedun even to save a loved one. It goes against everything we believe in."
"Unless Terris wasn't actually Elucian," Shovia said. When we all turned to look at her, she shrugged. "What? We're all thinking it. The Shedun are masters of deception. What if Terris was one of them? A sleeper agent sent years ago to establish himself here?"
The thought sent chills down my spine. How many others might be hiding among us, waiting for their chance to strike? How could any stranger be trusted?
I glanced at Alar and wondered how I had come to not only trust him after the short time I had known him but also to rely on him. He had an inner strength that invited such reliance, but it could be an illusion and a mistake to allow myself to be so vulnerable.
I didn't really know him, but I also didn't believe that he could be a Sitorian spy.
Nevertheless, he wasn't going to be around for long. After the pilgrimage was over and Saphir told Alar his fate, he and Codric would go back to Vedona and resume the comfortable lives they had left behind.
Shovia put her empty cup down and folded her arms over her chest. "If Terris was a Shedun operative, there must have been another one out in the square who killed him to keep him from talking."
"That's not how the Shedun work," my father said. "They wouldn't have had any problem with us finding out about Terris's treason. On the contrary. They would have relished the anguish it would have caused us."
"Speculation will get us nowhere," Gran said firmly. "And speaking ill of the dead goes against the precepts of Elu. The Guard will investigate and find out what happened."
I wasn't sure I agreed with Gran. She was right about respecting the memory of the dead and letting the Guard do its job, but the people actually in charge of the investigation didn't know all the details we'd pieced together.
"We should tell the authorities what we know," I said. "Or even what we suspect. How would they know that Terris's wound wouldn't have allowed him to walk around for nearly an hour after the explosion? They would assume he was found unconscious by the rescuers."
The newscaster on the television said something about the pilgrimage, catching my attention, and I lifted my hand to get everyone to quiet down.
"All uninjured pilgrims should report tomorrow at dawn to the base of the mountain. Those who wish to postpone their pilgrimage should report to the records office tonight by 9:00 p.m. If you can't make it in time and the office is closed, add your name to the list that will be attached to the door. All pilgrims and residents of Skywatcher's Point are invited to attend the funerals at midnight."
That would leave us only a few hours of sleep, which wasn't a good idea before a physically and mentally demanding trek.
"That's good news," Codric said. "It means that we get to eat tonight and tomorrow morning. Less fasting."
I envied the guy's ability to find something encouraging about the situation.
Seven pyres would burn tonight, seven families would mourn, and seven urns would be filled with ashes. And somewhere out there, the Shedun who had planned this attack were probably celebrating their success.
They had failed to kill our shaman, but they had still caused us a lot of anguish and struck fear into our hearts. They had shown us that nowhere was truly safe, not even Skywatcher's Point.
22
KAILIN
Some modern Elurian philosophers say that death is the end and that there is nothing on the other side of the veil, but Elucians believe that the death of the body sets the soul free to soar among the eternal lights of its final resting place in Dolis.
I wonder if those who died today will linger long enough to see us standing vigil as their mortal bonds burn away and know that they won't be forgotten.
—From the journal of Kailin Strom
Seven pyres stood in a wide semicircle, each draped in white cloth that glowed eerily under the shifting auroras. The wooden structures had been hastily constructed, but it wasn't evident in their careful craftsmanship.
My family was standing with the families of the victims, offering what solace and support they could, while I stood between Shovia and Morek, grateful for their presence on either side of me. We should have been asleep, saving our energy for the pilgrimage that was to start early tomorrow morning, but none of us could do that.
