Rthan (Spring Equinox – Early Morning)
Rthan looked at the damage to his water spell. Weeks of fasting, planning, traveling, and dancing—ruined. The careful crystal lines he had shaped around the snow on the glacier were changed. The old spell would have sent a great flood of melting snow in spring down toward the enemy village. Not anymore. The new glowing Blue lines would send the water safely down many smaller streams, not toward the valley where the enemy lived.
Someone had protected the Rainbow Labyrinth tribehold.
"Who could have done this?" he asked aloud.
The other six men and women with him only gave him back the same look—confused and unsure. They shivered and coughed in the snow. They weren't used to the cold or the high mountain air. He knew they were wondering if he would tell them to stay long enough to dance the whole spell again. That would take many weeks.
He wasn't really speaking to the little girl standing beside him. But still, she looked up at him with wide, serious eyes.
"Kavio the Rain Dancer," she said. She had joined him so quietly, almost no one noticed.
Meira.
His daughter. His only child. She was only eight, but already people said she would grow into a great beauty. Her long, straight black hair was tied with strings of pearls. The twists reached her ankles. Her tiny face was a perfect moon. Her lips looked like a small pink shell. Her eyes were deep blue pools, full of the colors of ocean and sky.
People said she looked just like him, but smaller and more perfect. He was large, covered in tattoos, a tower of muscle. His long hair was braided at the top to show his kills. She looked like a sweet little doll.
Meira.
His daughter. His only child. She had died six years ago.
He knew that. He knew this girl at his side wasn't really Meira. But still, each time he looked at her glowing blue form, he felt the same love—and the same pain.
The six people with him were all Blue Tavaedies. They could see her too, though not as Meira. To them, she looked like a bright blue light too strong to look at. They knew he sometimes called her by his dead daughter's name. They knew she had strange power. That power scared them.
They backed away now, covering their eyes.
"Should we break camp?" asked Rthan's second, Dorthamo. He didn't look at the glowing girl. He looked past her, toward the tents and the fire near the frozen lake. "If we don't leave now, we won't have time to do the main hex."
"If we hex the Yellow Bear tribehold but leave their allies alone, those allies will still be able to help them during the attack," Rthan said.
Dorthamo's face fell. "Yes…"
"But if we stay longer, the mountain pass will freeze shut. Then we won't be able to return at all," Rthan said. "We must break camp. We must cast the main hex. Or give up the mission."
"I don't think the War Chief will cancel."
"Neither do I," Rthan said. He waved his hand. "Go. Break camp. I need a moment to speak to…"
"Her?" Dorthamo still didn't look at Meira.
Rthan nodded.
Dorthamo swallowed. "Is she angry?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He hurried away. The others followed him, quickly taking down the tents.
The little blue girl reached out and held Rthan's hand, just like his daughter used to.
"I'm not mad at you, Daddy," she said.
"Don't call me that. I can't…" He pulled his hand away. "You said Kavio the Rain Dancer did this. Then the Rainbow Labyrinth must know about our spell. They will try to strike back."
"No." A breeze lifted strands of her hair in the cold wind. A dark, strange light filled her eyes. It didn't match her child's face.
"They are fools. As for Kavio…"
She smiled. But it was not a child's smile. It was the smile of glaciers. The smile of storms. It was cold. It was cruel.
Rthan shivered.
He loved her. She was all he had, after the murder of his family.But he had to admit, she scared him more than she scared the others.
Because he knew her best.