Time of the Eagle Read Online Free PDF

blessed cord that binds.”
    And he gripped my hand more tightly still until I cried out with pain. Then, suddenly, he relaxed his hold. His eyes closed, and the light about him seemed to diminish. All of him seemed to shrink, to become again a frail old man.
    I helped him to sit down, and he smiled fondly, as a grandfather might, and thanked me. Then he said, quietly and calmly, “This day it begins, the Oneness. I bless you, daughter. I bless you, for through you it comes.”
    I knew his words were meant as a blessing, but I felt the awful weight of them, and was afraid. Also—though I am ashamed, now, to speak of it—I doubted in my heart that Zalidas was right. Then my mother led me away, out to the river where I could be at peace. She kissed my cheek, and left me there alone.
    For the rest of the night I sat looking at the river and the eastern mountains until the sun came up and set the peaks aflame. It flooded the valley with fire, and turned the waters of the river scarlet like blood. Then I thought on how my father had died to carry out his destiny, and I shook with fear lest Zalidas had been right, and I was to be a child of war; and that my way, like my father’s, would lead to suffering.
    As the sun rose, my mother came out and sat by me on the grass. Behind us, the camp was awake. We could hear children playing, and people talking. Women came down to the river to collect water in jars and to wash the bowls from last night’s feast, but they stayed far from us. The sounds of ordinary life seemed strange, for all had changed for me.
    â€œIt is a heavy thing, to learn one’s destiny,” my mother said.
    â€œI thought I knew what mine was,” I replied. “You told me once that our destiny is always to do with what gives us highest joy. I have that joy now, helping you and Grandmother with the healings, making medicines. I want only to be a healer.”
    â€œYou will be a healer,” she said, “if you heal the hearts of our enemies, and help us all to become one. Healing is more than stitching up cuts, my love. And peacemaking, I’m thinking it’s the highest kind of healing of all.”
    â€œBut am I to be a peacemaker?” I asked. “Or am I to go and gather up an army, and march it off to war? I’m not knowing what Zalidas meant. I’m not even sure he said the prophecy over the right person.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, love?” she asked, looking at me, surprised,shading her eyes from the early sun.
    â€œDid he speak the prophecy over me, over Avala, healer and new woman?” I asked. “Or did he speak it over the daughter of Gabriel? Sometimes, Mother, I don’t know who I am, who I’m supposed to be. Some of the boys, they say that . . . that it’s not fair, the way I’m favored. And I’m thinking that what they say is true. I’m thinking that no one sees me for me , for who I am. Even Zalidas favors me, and that’s why he said those things last night. He said them because I’m Gabriel’s daughter. He wasn’t being fair. I’m not a warrior. I’m not even a good speech-maker. How will I persuade the Hena and Igaal to fight with us—if that’s what I’m supposed to do? I think Zalidas made a mistake.”
    â€œIf what Zalidas said is true,” she said, “you will find the vision in your own heart. You will know your destiny for yourself, not because a priest told it to you. You’re confused now, but when the time is right everything will be made clear to you. Meanwhile, hold close to your friends, who love you, and shut your ears to envy. Anyone who is different finds life hard. Your father, he felt alone at times, and some of his people were jealous of him, too. Sometimes he didn’t know who he was. He called himself a Navali once, when he didn’t know if he was Navoran or Shinali.”
    We laughed a little together, and I felt