In the Darkness Visible - Elk Riders Volume One

Chapter 6: Omanuju

Voices fighting over her. They used her name. They debated in whispers. They invoked the gods, pleading with them for help, for guidance. Gabriella could not open her eyes to see or her mouth to speak, but after a time she could follow the thread of conversations and recognize some of the voices.

"She's uninitiated ... she should have never been possessed."

"Perhaps it was just fever."

"No, she spoke with the voice of our ancestors. The dead channeled through her."

"Impossible, the gods had already dispersed! How could they call upon the dead?"

"If she was possessed truly, then she should be immediately initiated."

"She must recover first."

"Please, please," a new voice, her mother's voice. "She is my child. Can I see my own child?"

Then, closer, the soft sound of her mother speaking to her, telling her that she loved her. Her father joined, too, calling her pumpkin. Gabriella could feel his calloused palm cradling her head. The other voices had not retreated completely. She could still hear them arguing.

"There is much dissention about what to do, even what happened." Gabriella knew the voice, even if she did not know the speaker well. It was the voice of Jacob the Elder, the high priest, master summoner, the same man who had conversed with Savay-Mael. He spoke in a regular voice now, without projecting, without the elaborate words of the summoning, but his voice was nonetheless unmistakable, low, gravelly, firm. A man accustomed to being heard.

"So it was not a fever?" her father asked.

"Even I think it is unlikely. That was the voice of the dead she spoke with."

"But why not speak through the dancers as the dead always do?" her mother asked.

"The dancers were all mounted by the gods. Our ancestors were missing their accustomed channels."

"But the gods left," her mother said, a note of desperation in her voice as if with every word she was pleading for some explanation that would return everything back to normal.

"They did indeed leave," Jacob said. Gabriella could not see him, but the shame and uncertainty in his voice were unmistakable. The first full summoning in decades had ended in disaster.

"What do we do now?" her father asked.

"Wait. Keep her warm. I've sent for an old friend to consult."

"Who is that?" her mother asked.

"Omanuju Ant."

"Old man Antler?" her father said, his voice ending in a question.

"Yes, you know him?"

"Aye, as a child. But I have not seen him in years. Does he still keep an elk as his companion?"

"I do not know. But I do know that if anyone will have an answer, he will."

v

When Gabriella finally opened her eyes, her lids were heavy, like the rest of her body. It felt as if she had been in bed many days, and instead of recovering, her body had grown used to being immobile and was resisting her efforts to shift, to pull back her covers, to lift her head and sit up. But sit up she did, the room spinning with her effort. She was not in her familiar room at home. She was in a small bed in a room with smooth walls painted a soft sky blue. She knew only one building on the island had such walls: the House of Healing. She had been there before to visit family members and neighbors. Even her brother had spent many a day there when he was younger while healers plied him with herbs, potions, and incantations. Nothing had ever worked.