Final Fieretsi: Part I of the Fabula Fereganae Cycle

  Chapter VI: Sight Unseeing

  After stepping through what was solid rock just seconds before, Stefi marveled at the hidden world she had entered. A quick glance behind her showed that she was closed in, although she certainly didn’t feel like a prisoner here. She wondered if anyone could, even if they had been dragged here. Like Sansonis.

  A huge town sprawled before her, circled by an evergreen forest of beech-like trees, and cut straight through the middle by a stream that tumbled from a waterfall far to her right. The countless trees scattered about, of light leaves but heavy shade, stretched out their limbs to offer coolness to the inhabitants. Dotted about this massive clearing were many small wooden houses with thatch roofs, and Stefi noticed, with a smile, that many had hammocks strung outside. By the looks of it the Furosans had more in common with ferrets than just appearances, sharing also the inexplicable fondness for hammocks. But most impressive of all was the large stone statue of a ferret, its head looking skyward as it held one leg raised mid-step.

  Stefi followed the high curving arch of its back with her eyes and noticed a building not far from it that was different from the others. It was very small, windowless, and made entirely of wood. On its steps sat the most unusual thing Stefi had ever seen: a ghostly white Furosan. There was something about the figure, something that drew her attention, and it wasn’t the lack of color in its skin or hair. As she looked–no, stared–nothing else around her seemed to matter. The roar of the waterfall dulled. The figure looked at her with deep red eyes and smiled.

  Suddenly Gemmie’s voice cut through her mind and snapped her from her trance. Stefi! Hurry up! We’ll be left behind! Ifaut, Sansonis, and Rhaka were already approaching the stream.

  “Oops, sorry!” she said and hurried after her new friends. But when she glanced back towards the figure there was only empty space. Something had happened when the two locked eyes, and Stefi felt as if, for just a moment, the Furosan had seen through her very being.

  She approached the others, puffing slightly, arriving just in time to hear Ifaut’s commentary. “And it looks like the preparations are underway. We arrived just in time. Whew.”

  “Preparations for what?” Stefi asked. She suddenly realized that Furosans were busying themselves setting up decorations and generally enjoying themselves, helped, of course, by their ferrets.

  “The festival of Lidae, duh!” Ifaut said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “See that big statue? That’s him. He’s pretty, isn’t he?”

  Not as pretty as me though, Maya said.

  “Who exactly is he?”

  “I’m sorry, I keep forgetting you don’t know,” Ifaut said as they crossed a wide wooden bridge spanning the stream. She paused halfway and leaned over the railing. “He’s a Uiverra, our guardian spirit. He watches over us and helps keep us hidden here. And I know what you’re thinking. No, he isn’t the statue,” she laughed. “That’s just an image of him.”

  “Most interesting,” Rhaka said. “The human religion expressly forbids any images of their god, Kardin.”

  “We’re not humans,” Ifaut said curtly. “And he’s not really our god, because, well, we don’t exactly have one. We have Feregana, but She’s more like a mother we are close to than some distant, supposedly omni-impotent god like Kardin. And we can touch her so we know she’s close. And we have the ferrets. In terms of gods, they’re the closest things we have to them.

  “But anyway,” she said, putting her happy demeanor back on and continuing to walk, “tonight’s when we thank Lidae for protecting us this past year.”

  Rhaka spoke again. “Are we as outsiders welcome here, especially for an event of such importance?”

  “I dunno,” Ifaut said with a shrug. “We’ve never had anyone else here. At least not that I can remember. Maybe a long time ago though…” After that she fell silent and presently they approached a large stone building embraced by a copse of trees that displayed a varied palate of greens. Two armed Furosans stood guard outside, each with an equally stern looking ferret standing at attention beside them. Even though the guards were clearly traditional, sporting little in the way of armor and armed only with long poles, the others still felt a little uneasy at the sight of them, as if they might attack at the slightest provocation.

  “Wait here a second,” Ifaut said and approached the guards by herself. As she chatted to them in her native language, their gazes swept suspiciously over Stefi and Sansonis. But not as suspiciously as Maya eyed their guard-ferrets.

  Look at them, standing all important like that, he muttered.

  I heard that, Stefi heard an unfamiliar voice say in her head. The two guard-ferrets suddenly appeared at her feet, both sables resplendent in ornamental leather armor, and glared up at Maya.

  Umm, what I meant was… do you stand there looking serious all day? he said, trying to save face.

  The other one answered. It is our duty to protect those within this building along with our friends. We stand because we must, Maya of Farān, to retain our fragile honor and atone for our failure.

  Before either he or Stefi could ask any more of the ferret’s strange remark, Ifaut came rushing back. “Come on,” she said, “we’re going in now.” She took Sansonis’s hand and led everyone inside as the guards, still casting cursory glances at the two humans, withdrew.

  Stefi marveled at the grandeur of the great hall’s interior. Colorful frescoes adorned the walls, displaying events both from history and everyday life. The curving backs of ferrets were depicted naturally in the medium; the lively brushstrokes on setting plaster gave them a vitality that seemed to make them leap off the wall. Giant birds soared through the heavens, and various creatures were shown in the forests below. There were no humans.

  At the far end of the hall, sitting upon large wooden chairs, were two Furosans. They exuded an aura of royalty, both aged and ageless at the same time, their ears and tails tinged gray like their hair.

  Ifaut released Sansonis’s hand and hugged them both. She conversed with them in their own language, a tongue that sounded rather like the Common Language punctuated with odd dooks and clucks, and heavy on open vowel sounds. Stefi guessed they must be her parents.

  Presently Ifaut’s father spoke so that the others could understand. “Humans amongst us,” he said in a gravelly voice with a rather heavy accent that contorted his words, “and a supposedly extinct Otsukuné. These are odd times indeed.”

  No one else knew quite what to say, but Ifaut’s father continued. “I am Phastus Mafouras III, king of Mafouras and its surrounds, although that title holds little weight now. And this is my wife, Rivista. You have already met my daughter, Ifaut.”

  ‘She’s a princess?’ Stefi thought. ‘Could have fooled me...’

  “And you, Kalkic, saved her life, did you not?” His piercing blue eyes stared straight through Sansonis.

  “Yes, I saved her,” Sansonis said. He was shaking slightly, though in nervousness or fear he didn’t know.

  “Then I thank you. You have my sincerest gratitude.” He stood up and embraced Sansonis, who glanced awkwardly at Ifaut. If anything, Sansonis thought to himself, these people were certainly affectionate.

  Phastus released Sansonis and approached Stefi. Much to everyone’s surprise he got down on one knee before her. “If my Ifaut speaks the truth… you don’t know what this means to us,” he said and clutched Stefi’s hands in his. “Little did I think that our fate would come to rest in a human’s hands. But I can see that your heart is pure.”

  ‘No one has a pure heart,’ Stefi thought darkly, then spoke aloud. “Please,” she said, feeling rude to change the subject in such a situation but finding it necessary to ask about the whole reason she had set out from home, “what’s happening to you Furosans and the ferrets? I came all this way because these two, Gemmie and Maya, felt something bad coming and we thought you might be able to help us.”

  Phastus arose and returned to his seat. “A disturbance is extending its ha
nd across our world and the clouds of war are darkening in the eastern skies over Sol-Acrima. Lady Cédes will tell you everything you want to know and, through no fault of her own, things you will wish you had never heard, nightmares beyond your ken.”

  “Who is Lady Cédes? Ifaut mentioned her before.” She felt her worry rise at what Phastus had said about her.

  “Perhaps our greatest asset. Although she will be preparing for tonight’s festivities as we speak, she will surely grant you an audience.” He turned to Ifaut.” And my daughter,” he said, “afterwards take our visitors to the guest lodgings. Long have they lain empty and it is time again for their walls to warm company.”

  Ifaut nodded and, saying nothing more, led them outside and back they way they’d come. By now, it seemed, word of the strange arrivals had spread. Furosans young and old watched from doorways, or halted whatever work they had been doing outside to stare. Ifaut only smiled and waved. Stefi and Sansonis, however, felt more like trespassers than invited guests.

  It took them only a few minutes to reach Cédes’s dwelling. It was the same windowless building Stefi had seen on arrival.

  What are you waiting for? Maya asked once they stood hesitantly outside. Let’s go inside.

  Stefi entered first, a ferret upon each shoulder, and found herself in a small, dim room. As her eyes tried to adjust, the heady fragrance of incense tickled her nose, and to her left Gemmie sneezed violently in her ear, showering her cheek with a cool spray. The only light came from several spluttering candles scattered about the room. Their flickering flames set the shadows of small wooden carvings dancing upon the walls. Stefi guessed the figures must represent Uiverrae like Lidae.

  Ifaut shuffled in after her, fearful of the sanctity that hung thickly in the air, and motioned for everyone to be quiet.

  At the far end of the room, kneeling upon a pile of blankets and framed by hanging tapestries, Stefi saw the pale Furosan who had disappeared so suddenly before, the one with the unusual eyes. She looked older than Stefi, perhaps by several years, though her appearance made it impossible to do more than guess at her true age. Her hair, the color of freshly fallen snow and as fine as corn silk, drifted about her knees. Her skin was pale as if she had spent all her life indoors, never knowing the caress of the sun.

  As Stefi approached, the Furosan lifted her eyelids to reveal two blood-red eyes in which slightly darker pupils could barely be seen. Yet they appeared to look straight into Stefi’s very being, both at what was real and what could be.

  “I heard of outsiders arriving here with Miss Ifaut,” the Furosan said. Her quiet voice startled Stefi from her daze. “As you likely know already, I am Cédes. Please, sit.” She motioned to the blankets in front of her. “What is it I can help you with? Never have I been sought by a human before.” Her voice rang with a clear, almost musical quality. Every “r” trilled delicately and she drew out some her vowels as if savoring their feel. Yet an underlying sorrow tinged her words as if she might start crying at any moment.

  Ifaut, Sansonis, and Rhaka hung back, awaiting their turn.

  “My name’s Stefi Valtela. I left home to find you Furosans. Gemmie and Maya, these two ferrets you can see on my shoulders, feel like something bad is going to happen.”

  Cédes let out a low, sorrowful laugh. “I cannot see any ferrets upon your shoulders, nor indeed you. I am without sight.”

  “Oh!” Stefi gasped. “I’m sorry if I offended you. Please, forgive-”

  Cédes silenced her with a raised hand. “Do not worry, for I have not taken offense. I cannot see with my eyes, yet I can hear and smell the world about me. But you, there is something about you I cannot place. I feel your presence shining in front of me. I…I have never felt something of this sort…” she said and shook her head in bewilderment.

  “This is going to sound strange, but I can understand what ferrets say,” Stefi offered, feeling that that might help explain it.

  At her words Cédes stiffened. “Then you are the Fieretsi, one of the Fieretka! Long have Feregana and myself awaited the return of one like you. I all but knew you were a human, yet this still comes as quite a shock.”

  “The Otsukuné Rhaka said something about the Fieretsi helping the world, but he didn’t seem to know much about it,” Stefi continued.

  At the mention of his name Rhaka cocked his head and listened intently.

  “That is not surprising,” Cédes said almost condescendingly, “but I can tell you everything you need to know, and some of what is yet to come. And I assume you have been warned about the… less pleasant things I might also say.”

  Maya chose that moment to skitter down from Stefi’s shoulder and began to explore Cédes’s room.

  “Maya, no!” Stefi scolded. “This isn’t our house. Come back!”

  “No, it is quite all right,” Cédes said. “He is most welcome to look around. It is a great blessing to have a ferret want to look about one’s dwelling.”

  Upon hearing that it was all right, Gemmie too clambered down and nosed about, fascinated by the new smells and sensations.

  “I didn’t know it was good to have ferrets sticking their noses into someone else’s things,” Stefi said and smiled. “Most humans find it annoying.”

  “Most humans do not realize the true nature of ferrets. Although they are small, they certainly possess greater hearts than many bigger people.”

  “So, what’s happening to them?” Stefi asked, easing the subject back on track as Gemmie and Maya explored Cédes’s house. The two ferrets eventually found their way beneath the blankets upon which human and Furosan were seated and cruised the folded waves like sharks, nipping at anything they happened to bump into.

  Cédes cast her unseeing eyes downward. “We, like your ferrets, can sense some disturbance approaching from the distant horizon, and we fear the humans may again be treading the path to war. And I cannot shake the feeling that our time is drawing to an end. This is where you as the Fieretsi, Miss Valtela, are to find your purpose.”

  “Call me Stefi, if you don’t mind.” Miss Valtela sounded far too formal to her ears. And old.

  “Certainly. I meant no disrespect.”

  Cédes turned to where the other three stood by the doorway and addressed them for the first time, only now seeming to realize they were there. “Miss Ifaut, Kalkic, Otsukuné, you may join us also. There is no need to stand so separated as our respective races already do in this world. Please, sit.”

  Ifaut shuffled forward, her head hung low as if by an unseen weight, heavy with awe and fear of Cédes. Even so, her tail quivered and twitched. She took Sansonis’s hand and sat down.

  Beneath the blankets, a slinky form lurched and Maya’s needle teeth probed through in excitement and fun.

  Once they were all seated, Stefi spoke to Cédes. “I suppose I should introduce the others,” she said. “You already know Ifaut, but the Otsukuné is Rhaka and the Kalkic is Sansonis; he saved Ifaut.”

  Ifaut piped up, unable to contain herself anymore despite knowing she really shouldn’t interrupt. “I think he’s my kamae,” she said. “Can you tell me? You were the one who said I should go looking in the first place!”

  Cédes laughed, and at this the formal air was broken. “Dear Ifaut,” she said, “you are impatient as always. If what the townsfolk are already saying is to be believed, he is more your pet than kamae. All he lacks, they say, is a leash!” As she laughed at what she had just said, Stefi couldn’t help but think she looked hauntingly beautiful, and yet still somehow deeply lonely.

  “Hmph!” Ifaut grunted and crossed her arms. “It’s not like you to joke about something like this. And if everyone keeps laughing at me, I’ll…I’ll…” She uncrossed her arms and clenched her fists tight, not in anger but embarrassment.

  Cédes just smiled serenely. “You do not need me to tell you if you two are kamaes. Can you not feel it yourself?”

  Ifaut relaxed and smiled. “Is that as close as I’ll get to a yes out of you?”
r />   Cédes nodded, and the elated Ifaut let out a squeal that startled the ferrets from the blankets. They peered out in fright and watched as Ifaut cavorted about the room and knocked over several ornaments before she dragged Sansonis back outside. Stefi, Cédes, and even Rhaka couldn’t help but laugh as Sansonis shot them a worried look on the way out the door. He seemed genuinely afraid.

  Once silence had returned, Cédes spoke once more. “As I was saying before Miss Ifaut interrupted, you as the Fieretsi are needed to stand against this coming disturbance which your ferrets have sensed. Do you know the nature of ferrets in this world?”

  “Rhaka has already told me a little. He said they’re our world’s life force or something.”

  “He speaks correctly,” Cédes said and nodded in Rhaka’s direction. “Ferrets are composed of Furosa–the essential energy of life, this world, in fact–in its almost pure state, whilst also possessing the life spark and soul that is common to us all. They are the means through which life-giving Furosa is conveyed about the world. Every step leaves but a trace amount, and that is all that is necessary to keep the world alive. Flowers, trees, animals, every living thing is thanks to them.”

  “So you’re essentially saying I can talk to the source of life?”

  “Exactly. Fieret in the old tongue means ‘ferret’, but it can also mean ‘life’. Si is one who speaks or communes. And ka means friend. Which is why your current companions, those drawn from Feregana’s divided races, are the Fieretka. ”

  Stefi remained silent for a moment. The weight of what Cédes had said bore down on her. “But how can any of this help the world?”

  “With the correct training from me, your skills may extend far beyond just conversing with ferrets.” She smiled. “Why, you could even gain the power to destroy armies, nations… even worlds. Or save them. This coming disturbance, whether it is a surging tide of Nefairu, the opposite energy to our own world’s Furosa, or something else entirely, it seeks the destruction of the ferrets.”

  Stefi’s eyes widened in alarm. “But why? Killing the ferrets means no life. No life means…” she trailed off, unable to find the words necessary to continue.

  “Yes,” Cédes said. “And that is why we must stop it, though you alone possess the ability to do so.”

  Stefi shuddered even though the room was quite warm, and she picked up the ferrets to hold them tight for comfort. She needed to hold something, anything, to reaffirm her grip on reality. Her, possessing the power to destroy worlds? Or being the only one able to save this one? Her gift had always been something that had brought her happiness, if not a little suspicion from other people. Now how could something so joyous, so unassuming, bring about something so utterly unthinkable or even prevent it?

  After a few moments of slow breathing she finally spoke again, but the excitement of meeting people who had until recently been the stuff of stories had gone. She felt weary. “How do you know all this?” she asked, her voice quaking. “That something wants everything... dead?”

  “I have seen the future,” Cédes said. “Though a dead, lifeless world is no real future for anybody.”

  Rhaka broke his protracted silence with what sounded like a snort. “If you have seen the future,” he said, “then surely you ought know whether we are successful in preventing this disturbance.”

  A frown broke out on Cédes’s face and she hung her head. Just when Stefi thought she wouldn’t say anything, she spoke again. “Stefi is not the first Fieretsi. She is the final.”

  Stefi’s face grew nearly as pale as the Furosan before her. “But... then that means...”

  “We have failed before we have even begun. I have seen your death. You will die, and we cannot stop it from coming to pass.”

  “Run faster!” Ifaut yelled as she pulled Sansonis along so hard that he felt as if his arm would soon be wrenched from his shoulder. He doubted she would even notice if it was.

  “Where are we going?” he said, drawing a breath between each word as Ifaut ran tirelessly. Just as he finished asking, she came to a stop next to the stream that ran through her hometown. She dropped herself on the grassy bank, lowered her bare feet into the cool waters, and swished them in the current. The motions startled the fish and sent them dancing away to seek the safety of the water-weed forests, just as the Furosans themselves sought solitude in this forest of the land. She dragged him to the ground beside her. He resisted the urge to wet his feet.

  “I have something for you,” she said. Her face beamed with a toothy grin. She reached into her pocket and removed two slender silver chains, each suspending a pendant shaped like a stylized half-ferret head made from a gold colored metal Sansonis had never seen before. “Pick one.”

  Sansonis pointed to the left half. Ifaut leaned forward, so close he could feel her nervous breath tickling his skin, and fastened the chain about his neck before putting on her own.

  “Are these to do with this kamae thing?” he asked.

  “Yes. They represent the link between us, two parts of one, the interconnectionyness of our souls. Aren’t they neat?”

  “Yeah, but what are they made of?” He turned the shiny trinket over in his hand, watching the rays of the sun glint off and dance across Ifaut’s soft features. Her eyes glistened in the reflected sunlight.

  “They’re made of cephei,” she told him, “a metal naturally infused with high levels of Furosa. It’s very strong but very rare. I had to save up for a long time to buy these. Like a whole year of gardening and cooking for the older people.”

  “Thank you,” Sansonis said. “You’re a princess, though. Couldn’t you just get them easily from your parents?”

  “Yeah, but then they’d mean nothing.”

  He was suddenly struck by just how precious the little pendant about his neck was, not just in the raw value of its metal, but the many hours Ifaut had put in to earn it when she could’ve simply asked her parents. “Thanks. I really mean it. This is probably the first real gift anyone’s ever given me.” Then he did something unusual. He hugged her for a change.

  “There’s something else I want to ask you.” Ifaut’s face grew red as he pulled away. “Will you be my dance partner tonight? For the Festival of Lidae?”

  Sansonis jerked as if bitten and widened his eyes.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to?” She frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Something seems wrong.”

  “It’s just that, you know, I spent much of my life with Otsukuné who couldn’t dance, and the rest among humans who would rather hurt me than dance. So I have no idea how to.”

  Even though Sansonis seemed downcast, Ifaut laughed. “Is that all?” she asked. “It’s not about knowing how, it’s about what’s in here.” She gestured towards his heart, over which the pendant now hung. “And I’m not taking no for an answer, so get used to it.”

  “Have you ever taken no for an answer?” he asked. He already knew her reply.

  “What do you think?” she said in a way that could only mean she hadn’t. She stood up, her feet dripping cool water, and offered Sansonis her hand. “And don’t worry. I’m not going to lead you around against your will anymore. Especially not on a leash. Let’s go. I’ve gotta get ready for tonight.”

  “And me? Am I allowed to attend?”

  “Only the celebration at the end. The religious ones are pretty strict on just us attending the ceremonies.”

  Sansonis took her offered hand and the two headed towards the house where the outsiders would be staying. For the first time since Shangara, he felt as if he truly belonged somewhere.