Read Online The Luck of Brin's Five by Cherry; Wilder - Free Book Online Page B

neither good nor bad, who lived among the Moruia,” she said. “Name us some names, Dorn. Show your mother’s loom teaching.”
    â€œEenath, Vuruno, Ullo and Telve . . .” I parroted gamely. “All were great spirit-warriors and made Families with the clans long ago. Eenath for Pentroy, Vuruno for Dohtroy, Ullo and Telve for Tsatroy, the fire-clan that is no more.”
    â€œGood child!” smiled the Ulgan. “The legend tells that these spirit-warriors, especially Eenath, still inspire these twirlers. A Leader, once inspired, gathers poor outcasts into a skein. Those whose families have been broken by death or misfortune, runaway vassals, disgruntled townees or miners. They roam about begging alms and doing their spirit dance. Simple folk are kind to them.”
    â€œWhat will you do with this one?” asked Harper Roy.
    â€œI must put the poor wretch to use,” sighed the Ulgan. “I know the leader of this twirling band. He’s a wily one, who plays politics.”
    She motioned us back behind the curtains of the inner room and, raising her arms, began a crooning chant. The apprentice, who divined her will, took over stroking the twirler’s face. Presently the twirler sat bolt upright, and I saw that it was a female, no older than Brin, but scarred and undernourished. As the Ulgan crooned, all the harsh lines left the poor face and the twirler spoke its name, like a sleeper. “Mooneen uto Vilroyan. Mooneen, once of Vil’s Five. Now roaming with the spirit warriors.”
    â€œYour Leader?” asked Beeth Ulgan.
    â€œPetsalee, host of spirits.”
    â€œYou will bear this message to the Leader, with a gift of silver,” pursued the Ulgan.
    â€œSurely. . . .” sighed Mooneen, in the same eerie tone.
    The Diviner spoke quickly and earnestly: “Tell Petsalee that he will earn praise and riches from the Maker of Engines if he goes straight downriver and plays all towns and villages between here and Otolor. The burden of his teaching shall be: no devil came down from the void but a true spirit warrior, who will bring glory and peace and honor to the land of Torin.”
    Diver could not follow all this; but as I peered from the light into the darkness, I was struck by the cunning of the Diviner.
    When the twirler knew the message, she was awakened. We saw her dressed in a cloak and given silver, then sent out into the night-light. Beeth Ulgan called us back and for the first time introduced the apprentice, whose name was Gordo Beethan—Gordo, Beeth’s helper. No Five-name, or if he had one he did not use it. Again, I wondered about living with a teacher instead of a family. The Ulgan was explaining: “Gordo is a Witness,” she said. “The only one registered in Cullin. Ask Diver if such things exist in his knowledge.”
    We had already tried to explain this way of sending messages to Diver. He understood fairly well what we meant but seemed to doubt if it would work. He admitted he was thought-blind himself but not all his folk were so. A few had the power to link minds. He asked now, could it be shown?
    The Ulgan could not do it. “One must believe,” she said. Gordo looked smug; he valued his powers. I was sleepy and jealous.
    â€œI will link minds with the Witness,” said Beeth Ulgan. “Then, when he calls, far off, at an appointed time, I hear and speak through him, while he is entranced. His hearers hear me speak.”
    At that moment there came a musical rapping sound from deep inside the house; Beeth Ulgan’s big silk and wood clock was striking in her clock room. Long before its echoing wooden notes had died away, Diver knew what engine it was and asked to be shown. The clock made me sleepier than ever; I had lost all the hours of total darkness, which the mountain folk use for their best sleep; the Far Sun had been hours in the sky. The apprentice, Gordo, began curling up by the stove in the