Eyes of the Alchemist Read Online Free PDF Page B

mother’s stomach. It was a sleep it would never awake from, but at least it would die without pain or fear.
    The monkeys made good their escape. As they loped past her the more courageous amongst them pinched her or stuck out their tongues. Some jumped up and down, throwing rocks and jabbering insults back at her from the bottom of the slope.
    “Eeeyaaaah!” she yelled, and they took fright, falling over each other to escape. She smiled without mirth and then explored the cave for a suitable burial place for Sybilla. There was a hole in the cave wall near the back, large enough to take a body. She wrapped Sybilla in her blanket and strewed the sweet smelling herbs from her pack on to her body before pushing her into the cavity. Then she plugged the entrance to the tomb with the rocks littering the cave floor. It took all day to make the tomb airtight, except for one tiny hole through which Sybilla’s spirit would emerge. That she would plug later. Tiana was exhausted when she started the sequence of prayers that would assist the spirit to vacate the body and journey to Assinti.
    It was nearly dawn before she was rewarded by a shaft of white light, which touched in a cool kiss against her cheek before gathering speed and streaking joyously into the sky like a shooting star.
    “I’ll miss you, little mother,” she whispered. “Your spirit will guide me always.”
    Curled in her shabby brown robe and blanket, she fell into a deep sleep that lasted nearly all day. The sun was just sinking over the horizon when she woke. There was a stale taste in her mouth. She ate a little bread and the fruit she’d saved, and drank some water. It was time for her to leave, there was nothing left for her to do here now.
    The world outside the cave was bewildering without Sybilla and Tiana wondered in which direction to go. Followers of the Grand Alchemist had no temple except the sky and its horizons, though all earthly temples were open to them. They also had no set profession, for they were multi-talented. Mystics and healers, they spread the fable of the stars far and wide. Mostly, they wandered where the road took them. Now Sybilla’s spirit was journeying to Assinti and Tiana couldn’t decide where her own path lay. 
    She gazed above her, where Cabrilan hung oppressively. It was slow in starting its return orbit. She shivered, wondering if Lord Kavan had been back to the temple. If there had been raids she had not heard of them. She started down the slope, passing the little goat lying next to its mother. They were one in spirit now.
    There was a little daylight left, and it was time to leave this place of sorrow behind. Desert lilies were thrusting up through the sand, turning the wilderness into a place of beauty. Around the sticky flower buds flying insects began to cluster, waiting to sip of the life-giving nectar. She shuddered. Many of them were destined to become food for the lily.
     A bird hovered above her. It looked like a desert hawk, but was silver-grey in color. It flew in the direction of Truarc City, then fluttered back to her and hovered again. She had no intention of going back to Truarc, not yet. Not until the danger of Kavan had passed and Cabrilan had begun its outward orbit.
    Her fingers touched Atarta’s collar. “We shall head south, out of the wilderness and towards the edge towns. Perhaps we’ll find someone to travel with, and I shall learn to practice my skills without Sybilla’s guidance. Decision made, she set off, her sack and blanket thrown over one shoulder. The bird swooped down on silent wings and landed on her other shoulder. Its cry was harsh against her ear.
    When she caressed its soft head it dug its curved beak into her palm. She jerked her hand away and sucked the blood from the wound. “Don’t be so bad-tempered, little bird. I don’t mind giving you a ride, but I’ll expect good manners in return.”
    The bird hopped on to the hand she extended and gazed through predatory eyes