Kukulcan

Lair of Bxy26


Story: Speaker for Those Departed

From the moment she hatched, her eyes were closed. She lay very still in the nest, half in and half out of the water, breathing shallowly. Her parents bent over her, nearly frantic, almost ignoring her bouncing older sister. Then the whispers began.

Softly, barely audible, the cave was filled with the faintest murmurs of voices. Dragons' voices. And then her eyes opened--but not all of them. Only the ones along her body, the ones appearing on her flanks, her tail, her wings, her legs...thousands of eyes opening and closing, blinking out of sync with each other. But her four normal eyes remained shut, and her parents could see now that she was tightly squeezing them shut. She still did not move, and the disconcerting whispers continued.

"Something's wrong," Phaedra whispered to her mate. "I've heard of this mutation, but I didn't think it would...hurt. Look at her."

Whiffle, the Skydancer, bent over his daughter. "Hello, sweetheart," he said. "Don't you want to get up and meet us?"

The baby Mirror girl gave a tiny, reflexive jerk of her head. It seemed to be a "no".

"Something's definitely wrong," Phaedra said with finality. She scooped up their other wriggling daughter in a claw. "I'm taking this one to the nursery, and then I'm fetching the healer. You stay with her." She cooed to the other one. "Come along, Windswept, you're coming with me. There will be lots of other hatchlings for you to play with! Won't that be fun?"

Whiffle watched them go unhappily, his other daughter wriggling with glee. He wanted to be there for his daughter, whatever the problem was, but multigaze dragons had always made him uneasy. And to compound the strangeness, there were the whispers. Was his daughter possessed? It was too bad the Gaolers had moved out; perhaps they could tell if the was Shade-touched, and make her better.

The whispers were unnerving him. Finally, he starting talking to her, rambling on, not knowing what he was saying, or caring, as long as he couldn't hear the whispers. "...and you can have lots of fun in the nursery with your sister, and there are fish to catch, and pets to play with, and hunting, and lots of other Mirrors, strong and scary and beautiful ones like your mother, and we hadn't quite decided on a name for you yet, I like Cherubina but your mother thinks that's too silly, she'd rather name you Waterswept since your sister is Windswept, or..."

His mate returned just then, with the healer in tow. The Skydancer, Quartz, swayed as she entered the cave. "I'm...sorry," she stammered. "The auras...too many..." She made one more attempt to come into the cave, but staggered in a circle before exiting. Once outside, she shook herself off, and stared plaintively into the cave where her patient lay.

Phaedra looked suspiciously at her, and then at her mate, also a Skydancer. "If there's something wrong with her 'aura', how come you aren't keeled over in a fit?"

"I...hadn't noticed..." He did feel slightly nauseous, but he thought that was mostly from worry. Perhaps that was why he felt so uneasy. "Let's swap places."

Phaedra came into the cave and crouched by her daughter. "Has she responded at all?"

Whiffle shook his head. He did seem to feel better as he exited the cave, but only slightly. He was still worried. Quartz looked him over carefully. "Are you having a problem with your antennae?"

"Not that I'd noticed." He could sense the worry, love, and concern from his mate, and the professional care and concern from the healer. He could sense his other daughter's laughter as she played with the other hatchlings. He could sense the whole clan, and he could even feel his daughter lying there in the pool. An overwhelming sense of fear and uncertainty nearly knocked him flat.

"You sense them too?" Quartz asked.

Whiffle shook his head. "I only sense her. She's afraid. She doesn't know what's wrong either."

Quartz stood up and started to leave. "Come on," she said firmly. "We're going to the crossroads, to see if any multigaze dragons chose to fly this way today. If they are as sensitive as the legends claim, there ought to be one in the vicinity to offer advice."

Whiffle looked at his mate. "Go on," Phaedra said, her voice sharp with worry. "I'll stay with her."

Together the two Skydancers flew toward the crossroads, swift and straight, without any of the usual aerobatics of their breed. Upon arriving, Quartz immediately sat down to wait.

"Shouldn't we ask around?" Whiffle wondered, looking around at the three or four traveling merchants as if they might be offering multigaze dragons for sale out the back of their carts.

Quartz started to say that would not be necessary, but sensing Whiffle's anxiety, she instead replied, "It wouldn't hurt." It won't hurt for him to have something to do while he waits, she thought to herself.

It only took a few minutes for Whiffle to determine that there were no multigaze dragons in the market. With a sigh he settled himself beside Quartz, who determined to keep her demeanor as cheerful as possible, so as not to worry him any farther.

The sun moved two marks, as the Light dragons calculated it, while they waited. Suddenly Quartz looked up. A smoky black Coatl was soaring overhead. When he saw them, he immediately banked and spiraled downward to land beside them.

Whiffle shrank. He always forgot how big Coatls were; even though this one was still young, he was already half a tail longer than Whiffle. And he had eyes all the way down his neck, flank and tail, in a neat row: deep, Shadow eyes, hiding in his dark plumage.

The Coatl winked at Whiffle with an eye on his shoulder. "And what can I do for you lovely folks today?"

Quartz stood fearlessly. "We have a multigaze hatchling in our home lair, born a few hours ago. There is something wrong with her, but her aura is so confused that I can't get close enough to examine her."

He opened all his eyes at once. "I saw something worried you two. The Beyond is particularly active today. That may be the reason." He closed the eyes along his sides, looking for a moment exactly like any other dragon.

"Can you help?" Whiffle burst out.

"I don't know. But the Beyond sent me here to investigate the disturbance, so I guess I'd better go home with you. My name is K'uk'ulcan, by the way. "

There was a pause while Whiffle tried unsuccessfully to spit out the syllables correctly.

"You can call me anything you want," the Coatl said with weary patience, "except 'Kuku'. I hate that nickname."

Quartz raised her wings. "I'm Quartz, the healer, and he's Whiffle, the father. His mate is Phaedra, but we can discuss it on the way."

The flight back seemed to take forever, but K'uk'ulcan was only a little slower than the Skydancers. It was not long before they had landed in front of the hatchery cave.

"Nice little place you've got here," the Coatl said, his eyes half shut in the reflective glare of the setting sun. "A little bright, but the caves are nice."

"In here," Whiffle said, his daughter's fear rising in his throat.

Phaedra was curled tightly around the nest, every muscle tense as she watched her daughter's light breathing. She jerked, and uncurled stiffly as Whiffle bent over them. "What's going on?" she asked.

"This is K'uk'ulcan," Whiffle said quietly, as the Coatl sniffed the little Mirror and opened his herb pouch. "He's here to help."

The Coatl opened the eyes along his sides. "I'm going to need to burn some herbs here. They are safe for multigaze dragons, but others tend to get very sick when they inhale the smoke. Skydancers in particular."

Phaedra bared her teeth. "I don't even know you! I'm not leaving you alone with my daughter!" she snarled.

K'uk'ulcan sighed. "Mirrors. Look, you can lie down right in the cave entrance and watch, but make sure you keep your head down. The smoke will rise."

Phaedra growled. She slowly backed up and sat down in the entrance, never taking her eyes off the Coatl.

Whiffle squeezed past his mate, running his feathers along her side comfortingly as he did. She shivered at his touch. "Go on. I'll let you know when anything happens." She watched the Coatl light a small fire and throw some herbs on it. A bitter, acrid scent wafted toward her, and she began to feel dizzy.

K'uk'ulcan watched her head drop underneath his eyelids. Now that she was safely out, he threw the potent herbs on the fire. His eyes closed, all of them.

He opened them onto a grassy field. A small Mirror sat looking up at him with all four of her eyes. The others did not appear in the Beyond.

"Do you know what is happening to me?" she quavered. "Why do I hear voices? So...many..." she shuddered. "I can't even hear my parents when they speak to me. The voices are too loud."

"I know." The Coatl knelt. "Can you hear them now?"

She listened. "No, actually I can't. It's nice here. Where are we?"

"We are in the Beyond. It is a special place of the soul, that only multigaze dragons can access. When we are here, we see signs and visions, and hear voices of those departed. It gives us great power and knowledge, that we can use to aid our clans. But it must be used carefully."

"I don't hear anything. Or see anything. Except you."

K'uk'ulcan listened to the everpresent voices that murmured to him every time he stepped into the Beyond. They were telling him something, something that he didn't want to hear. "We need to go back now," he said. "I need to talk to your parents."

She looked sad. "I wish I could talk to them. But the voices are so loud out there."

"We'll see what happens. Sometimes this one trip will straighten everything out. Close your eyes."

They closed their eyes. K'uk'ulcan opened his to find himself back in the hatchery, with the murmuring voices still echoing around him.

Phaedra was on her feet. "What happened? Why did the whispers get so loud?"

"Did they?" K'uk'ulcan winced. "Go get your mate. We need to talk."

Phaedra let out a bellow, and Whiffle appeared a moment later. "Did you find out what's wrong?"

K'uk'ulcan sighed. "She has a condition that sometimes occurs with the firstborn multigaze in the clan. Her experience of our reality and the reality of the Beyond are switched."

The others stared at him, baffled.

"A dragon's first trip to the Beyond is a frightening experience. The sheer volume of sights, sounds, images, smells, and feelings invading your brain can sometimes cause severe mental and emotional trauma. Frequently it is at least six months between a Diviner's first trip and their second, with the recovery time growing shorter each time after that."

"But for her..." Whiffle gazed at his daughter, finally starting to understand her fear and confusion.

"She feels that way in the waking world. Her experience in the Beyond just now was her first experience of normal existence--nothing but her own thoughts in her mind. She is called an Oracle; it is the most powerful of all our gifts."

The little Mirror still lay in the pool. She winced, and cracked her eyes open--her own eyes. "You don't know what it's like," she rasped.

Her father bent down to her, his eyes stinging with pity. "I do, a little."

"I don't," Phaedra said flatly. "So what can you do to help?"

"I can't fix this problem. She cannot have even a semblance of a normal life. She can't even hear or see you right now because of the input flooding her mind."

"Oh." Phaedra sank down, defeated at last.

"The only thing that can be done is this," K'uk'ulcan said firmly. "You must go to your clan leader and find a cave where she can be placed, alone. I will make a fire with the herbs to send her into the Beyond, and she will hibernate there."

"For how long?" Whiffle asked.

"Forever."

Phaedra gasped, and tears formed in her eyes. "We'll never get to see her?"

"You can visit, but not for long, or the smoke will destroy your mind," K'uk'ulcan said firmly. Only another Diviner will be able to actually communicate with her." He looked at the saddened parents. "I know that this is hard for you," he continued, "but it is a great blessing for the clan. While she is asleep, as you observed, the voices are louder. These are the voices of those departed: dragons that have left the clan, died, or gone to serve their deity. Any dragon can come and speak with them, as long as they don't stay too long. They do not need to rely on the voice of a Diviner or Shaman, who may have their own interests at heart."

Whiffle and Phaedra looked at each other. "We'll go talk to Aoide," Whiffle said heavily. Together they shuffled out of the cave, leaning on one another for support. The Coatl watched them go.

The little one looked up at him with several eyes, not her own. "We don't like being silenced," voices said. "Let us speak. We would be heard."

"Soon," K'uk'ulcan said. "Soon. There are preparations to be made. Just wait a little while longer."

voices murmured impatiently.

"Do not harm the child," K'uk'ulcan warned. "My powers are limited here, but I can track you down in the Beyond."

"Will you name us?" voices asked.

"That I will do for you," the Diviner said. "Your name is Voicim."

"And my name?" the hatchling asked, opening her own eyes for the last time.

"You are Vessel."