“Never fear, little one,” she said. “You shall not die.”
She scooped out a bowl in the desert sand and shut her eyes, reaching deep within herself to summon up the necessary stored energy for a spell to create water. As she concentrated, water slowly bubbled forth in the depression she had scooped out. She dipped her fingers into it and sprinkled a few drops on the boy’s lips. His mouth twitched, and a parched tongue slowly emerged to taste the precious drops. Gently, she probed his mind... and then recoiled sharply at what she found. As the boy’s eyes flickered open and he stared up at her, she shook her head sadly and said, “Oh, poor little elfling! What have they done to you?”
The young priestess hesitantly approached the high mistress at her loom and waited to be recognized. Sensing her presence, the older woman spoke to her without turning around and taking her eyes off her weaving.
“Yes, Neela, what is it?”
“Mistress, we have a visitor who wishes an audience with you. She awaits outside your chamber.”
The high mistress frowned and turned to face her. “Outside my chamber? You mean she was admitted through the gates? You know we do not allow outsiders on the temple grounds, Neela. Who is responsible for this?”
“But, Mistress... she is pyreen.”
“Ah,” the high mistress replied. “That is a different matter. The druid peace-bringers are always welcome here. Did she give her name?”
“She is called Lyra Al’Kali, Mistress.”
“And you have kept her waiting?” the high mistress said, her eyes growing wide. “Foolish girl! She is one of the pyreen elders! Show her in at once!”.
The young priestess hesitated. “Mistress... there is but one more thing...”
“Well? What is it? Be quick about it!”
“She has a child with her. A male child.”
“A male? In a villichi temple?” The high mistress considered. “The child is pyreen?”
The young priestess moistened her lips nervously. “No, Mistress. I... I do not know what it is. I have never before seen such a child. And there is a tigone—”
“A tigone!”
“A mere cub, Mistress, but she says it will not leave the child, and is bonded to it.”
“How very curious,” the high mistress replied. “Show Elder Al’Kali in, Neela. We have already kept her waiting too long.”
The young priestess went out and returned a moment later with Lyra and a small boy, whom the pyreen held by the hand. A young tigone cub trotted in after them, staying close to the boy. When they stopped, the cub lay down at the boy’s feet. The high mistress first noticed the boy’s emaciated appearance and vaguely unfocused stare, but then she quickly saw what Neela meant when she said that she had never seen such a child before. In her sheltered life at the temple, Neela knew little of the outside world, but the high mistress immediately saw that the boy was a half-breed, which in itself was not uncommon on Athas. However, he appeared to have been born of a union between a halfling and an elf, and that was an unheard of rarity.
“Peace to you, Mistress Varanna,” Lyra said. “And peace to you, Elder Al’Kali,” the high mistress replied. “You honor this temple with your presence.”
Lyra inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment of the compliment. “You are wondering about this child I have brought with me,” Lyra said. “I know that males are not admitted to the villichi temple, unless they are pyreen, but then this is no ordinary male child, as you can plainly see. However, rather than explain further at this point, I invite you to ascertain that for yourself, using your abilities.”
With a slightly puzzled expression, the high mistress nodded and said, “Very well.” Then she directed a subtle psionic probe at the child. Almost immediately, she gasped and her eyes grew wide. The child had displayed no visible reaction to the probe. In fact, he seemed to be displaying no reactions whatsoever. It was as if he were in a fugue state. Yet, when she touched his mind with hers, she had been hurled back with such startling force that it took her breath away. However, in that brief instant of contact, she had discovered why the pyreen had brought the child to her. “A tribe of one?” she said softly, with astonishment.
Lyra nodded. “You have, no doubt, experienced his latent power, as did I.”
“But... so strong!” said the high mistress. “I have never before encountered its like in one so young!”
“Nor have I, in all my years,” Lyra replied. “You see why I have brought him to you.”
“Where did you find him?”
“In the desert, struggling to reach the foothills,” Lyra replied. “He was cast out by his tribe and near death when I came upon him. His call reached me at the summit of the Dragon’s Tooth.”
“So far?” asked the high mistress, amazed. She shook her head. “And he has had no training?”
“How could he have?” Lyra replied. “He is no more than five or six years old, at most. Until recently, he must have been hidden by his mother, who would have known his fate if his origin was discovered. And in an elf or halfling tribe, whichever cast him out, he would not have received any schooling in psionics.”
“No, obviously not,” the high mistress said. “To think of such incredible potential nearly being destroyed... to say nothing of the savage cruelty of leaving a mere child to such an awful fate. His ordeal must have been responsible for the fragmentation of his mind, and it may also have brought forth his latent talents. It is very rare to encounter a tribe of one. I have seen it only twice before, both times in girls who had been born villichi and were violently abused before they were cast out. This is the first time I have ever seen it in a male. Poor child. To think of the terrible torment he must have suffered...”
“I could think of no one else who would be capable of understanding it,” said Lyra. “It was my hope that, despite his being male, you would agree to grant him shelter at the temple.”
“Of course,” said the high mistress, with an emphatic nod. “There has never been a male in residence at the villichi temple, but this time an exception must be made. Who but the villichi could ever accept and understand a tribe of one? And who but the villichi could properly develop his potential? You may leave him with us, and I shall personally see to his care. But... what of the tigone?”
“The beast is psionically bonded to him,” Lyra said. “It is his protector. Some part of him communicates with it. Such a bond is rare and must not be broken.”
“But as the boy grows, so shall the cub,” said the high mistress. “Even when young, a tigone is dangerous. When full-grown, even I shall not be able to control it.”
“So long as no one threatens or mistreats the boy, you need have no fear of the tigone,” Lyra said. “However, I would suggest that you do not attempt to feed it. Allow it to roam free outside the temple grounds at night and hunt for its food, as it was meant to do. It shall always return to the boy, and it will accept those at the temple as members of his ‘pack’ and guard them as it does the boy.”
“I shall defer to your wisdom in such matters, Elder Al’Kali,” the high mistress said. “What is the boy’s name?”
Lyra shook her head. “I do not know. I do not even know if he knows. He has not spoken a word since I found him.”
“We shall have to call him something,” the high mistress said. She thought a moment. “We shall call him Sorak.”