Eternal Darkness (The Cimmerian Cycle #1)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

She followed him inside to find Leo sitting on the bed and a lantern giving off a weak light sitting on the table. She sat down next to him, feeling the now strange sensation of a mattress giving beneath her. Koran sat down on the chair and Kiayani then noticed that there was an array of papers cluttering the table as well as a heavy leather-bound book. She wondered why they had called her in.

Koran then answered her unspoken question, “You see these documents?” he gestured toward the mass of papers, “We need you to help us to read them.”

It then became crystal clear; none of the boys could read. Leo must have remembered that she could after she read a chapter or two of her book to him. That book now sat at the bottom of her bag, she had read it too many times to think about even picking it up again.

“Sure,” she replied, nodding, “Where do you want me to start?”

Koran picked up the leather bound book and gave it to her, “here.”

She looked at the book with interest. Embossed across the cover in gold letters were the words, ‘The Ancestors Realm,’. As she turned the first page Koran said, “We’ll leave you two it.”

Then he and Leo left the tiny cabin.

As she flicked the pages she noted that all seemed to be about the Ancestors, every page mentioned them. She found one page with a large drawing of a candle and she stopped. She recognized it from somewhere. Quickly she found the page title, ‘Sending Ones Soul to the Realm’. That is where she had seen it, her mother’s funeral. That candle had been sitting by her coffin. The priest had lit it at the start of the ceremony and it had stayed burning until it burnt out. Intrigued she read on,

The Ancestors Light, also known as the Holy Candle, is one of the only ways to send a spirit to the next realm. The candle must be lit at the start of the ceremony by one whom follows the ways of the Ancestors. The candle is placed by the head of the deceased and the smoke creates a path straight up to the realm. It must not be touched until it has blown out by its own means. If it is interrupted the soul will have no path to follow and will not be able to pass into the next realm.

She finished reading the paragraph, suddenly understanding. She flicked back through the pages again and she realised that the book was full of rituals and ceremonies to perform in the name of the Ancestors. She found one for good health and another to bless a newborn. There were some to help grow crops and another to make it rain. It was very strange. As she went to close the book she noticed some words that had been inked in, ‘This book is property of the Sages of the Ancestors. Please do not remove.’ The sages… Kiayani didn’t think that she had ever heard of them before. She closed the book with a snap and placed it on the table. She pulled the chair out so that she could sit on it and began examining the papers by the dim light of the lantern.

As she neatened all of them into a pile Mik came in with a plate of food.

“I brought you some food,” he said placing it on the table.

“Thanks, smells good,” she said looking up at him, “Is it squirrel?”

She think she recognized the same nutty scent.

“Yeah, how did you know?” he said slightly confused.

“It smells the same as when we had it last time, back in the forest,” she said awkwardly.

“You can remember smells?” he asked frowning.

“Sort of,” she said.

He smiled and then left her to her papers.