Raven's Shadow (Raven #1)(33)

She smiled a bit grimly. "Arrogant in their knowledge and power, even with their city sealed in death behind them, the wizards still meddled where they would. The Stalker was caged, but as time passed the bars of that cage would loosen. The wizards decided that their descendants, not having Colossae to nourish and educate them, would not be able to stand against the thing they had created, so it was decided to change their children and give them powers less dependent upon learning. They created the Orders."

"I'm a mage," she said. "There are other Traveler mages who are much like the Emperor's mages who helped Tier fight against the Fahlar. But I bear the Raven's Order. I don't need complex spells, I don't need to steal power as other mages do. I can do things that have not been written in a book and memorized. But the Raven is only one of six Orders bestowed upon Travelers."

Jes had withdrawn from the family until his face was hidden from the light of magefire. Seraph rose to her knees and stretched until she could touch his arm lightly.

"Peace, Jes," she said. "It's not just you - and I'm sorry I let you think it was. Your gift is just more difficult to hide."

Jes's gift was so terrible that there had been nothing she could do to shield him as she had the other children.

When he settled reluctantly where he was, she sat back down and said, "I am Raven. But there are also Bard, Healer, Hunter, Weather Witch, and Guardian. But, like Mage, we call the Orders by the birds who are symbolic to each Order because it is less confusing. Ordinary wizards are also called mages, but Raven always means the Order of Mage. The other five Orders are thus: Bard is Owl; Healer is Lark; Hunter is Falcon; Weather Witch is Cormorant; and Guardian is Eagle."

She watched them closely, but they seemed to be following her words so she continued. "My father told me that once the Orders were far more common. Among my clan, in my generation only three of us were Order-bound, Raven, Eagle, and Falcon. Other clans fared less well - and I knew of only one Lark still living when I left the clans, and she was very old."

Seraph drew a breath and wondered how to say this next part. "Imagine my surprise, then, when all of you were born into Orders."

Lehr passed the light across the basket of fry bread to Rinnie and rubbed his hands on his thighs. "But there's nothing different about any of us," he said. "Except Jes. And his oddities are surely nothing that would have served the purposes of the Travelers."

"Nothing different about you? Isn't there?" asked Seraph softly. "Have you ever come back from a hunt without game, Lehr? Have you ever been lost, my Falcon?"

He stared at her scarcely breathing. "Father taught me how to track, and to remember things so I wouldn't get lost," he said tightly.

"Did he?" she said. "That's not what he told me."

"What am I, Mother?" asked Rinnie eagerly, staring into the light she held. "Can I make a light like this?"

Seraph smiled. "No. You are Cormorant - Weather Witch. Not everyone knows when a storm is coming, Rinnie."

"What about Jes and Papa... and Aunt Alinath?" asked Rinnie eagerly. "Lehr is Falcon, and that makes him a hunter, right? What do Falcons and Cormorants get to do if they can't build fires?"

"Papa and Aunt Alinath aren't Travelers," said Lehr.

"We're only half, and we have Orders," Rinnie defended herself hotly.

Seraph held up her hand. "Hold a moment. Let's see. Uhm. Yes. Lehr is right, the Orders belong only to Travelers. Or that's what I always thought until I met your Papa. Tier is Owl - that means Bard. I've thought about it a lot over the years, but the only explanation I have is this: the old Raven who was my teacher told me that the Orders cannot be bred for as we breed for certain traits in horses. They attach to someone suitable to their purposes at the moment of birth." She smiled to herself. Her old teacher, Arvage, would have been outraged at the mere suggestion that an Order would attach itself to someone outside the Traveler clans.

She cleared her throat and continued, "In the Traveling clans, the Owl is responsible for keeping the history of the clans because one of their talents is for memory. But the Owl holds music, too - and music has always been a part of Tier.

"You had some more questions." Seraph clucked her tongue to her teeth as she checked her memory. "Falcons track and have some affinity for weaponry. Cormorants can predict - and, if they are careful, control the weather. There are more things, but I don't know them all. Some things vary from person to person; these things you will have to discover for yourself. Others" - she shrugged - "we might eventually have to find someone to teach you."

"What about Aunt Alinath?" Rinnie asked again.

"Your aunt is exactly what she appears - a solsenti baker."

"What does solsenti mean?" asked Jes abruptly.

"Stupid people," said Rinnie with smug wisdom. "Especially Aunt Alinath."

Seraph said, "Quit snickering, Lehr. In Traveler's speech solsenti means someone who's blind or crippled, but most of us use it to refer to anyone who is not of Traveler blood. Now, what else did you ask, Rinnie?"

"Jes," said Rinnie.

"Jes is Guardian."

"And Guardian is furthest from human," Jes broke in bitterly. "They took the spirit of a demon and bound it to their will. In the night I am this." He stood up and let his cloak fall so he stood before them all, revealed in the light Rinnie held. For a moment he was as human seeming as any of them, but then his shape flowed and darkened. A panther the size of Gura stood before them, his eyes gold flecked with an eldritch light.