Author's Note: These stories depart from canon about Dar's background and family. Also, just as an FYI . . . I began writing this story well before 'The Chameleon' aired, so it did not inspire 'Choices of the Gods.' The story takes place after 'Riddle of the Nymph,' and before 'The Slayer.' I'm slightly confused about the exact timeline of the series, so for the moment, I'm ignoring 'The Minotaur,' 'The Guardian,' and 'The Chameleon.' That's one of the joys of being a fanfic writer . . . being able to pick and choose which reality makes the most sense.
Disclaimers: I don't own Dar, Tao, Ruh, Sharak, Curupira, Podo and Kodo, the Sorceress, et al. I wish I did, but I don't. They belong to Coote and Hayes, and Alliance. Carrin/Mira and the others in the Varoni tribe are my creations, along with Pelagia and Zeuran, and the rest of their family (well, aside from the Ancient One).
Spoilers: "The Demon Curupira," "The Umpatra," "The Last Unicorns," "Circle of Life," "Riddle of the Nymph."
Rating: PG-14.
Choices of the Gods
© 2000, Deb Taylor
Chapter One
It had been a desperate gamble . . . but sometimes, those paid off. Jadya had Kyra . . . and later, the Sorceress, to thank for that. For distracting King Zad from her. The young prisoner had been pleased when Zad first noticed Kyra. Relieved, even. It would give her time to plan her escape. And fate would give her the opportunity, before her unborn child entered the world.
And so, three nights previous, while Zad was still recovering from the spell placed on him by the Sorceress, Jadya had made her escape. Her tent hadn't been guarded, since the Terrons had other concerns. Besides, who would have thought a heavily pregnant chit like herself would have that audacity? It boggled the mind! And so she ran. To deliver her baby in the forest, among the animals.
During her time in captivity, Jadya had come to realize that there were far more dangerous creations than animals. The Terrons, for one. King Zad, for another. And that hideous being, the one they called the Ancient One. She had run as far as she could, ignoring the pains until her exhausted body could no longer continue. And now, as she lay dying with her newborn daughter in her arms, she silently begged her baby to forgive her. She grew ever colder, but still found enough strength to take off her shawl and wrap it around her baby daughter.
Jadya thought of the legend of the BeastMaster, a young survivor of a Terron attack. He had been pledged to mate with Kyra, before their people were killed, before Kyra was herself taken. She had been . . . friends . . . of a sort with Kyra, and heard about the young warrior. The legend which was greater in truth.
Jadya held her daughter, feeling the life ebb from her. A squawk caught her attention and she opened her eyes to find a black eagle on the stump beside her. There was something odd about the creature. But Jadya had not the strength to ponder that further, for her body finally gave out. She was dying . . . but as a free woman. And her baby was born free.
~*~*~*~
When he had been a man, Sharak often received . . . messages, for lack of a better word . . . from the Mother Goddess Pelagia. As Sharak flew over his young human friend Dar, and Dar's companion Tao, he received another such message from the Mother Goddess.
Heeding her call, Sharak flew over the part of the forest . . . and that was where he saw her. A tiny woman, seemingly no bigger than Dar's young niece, stumbling through the forest. Sharak dove a little lower, and now saw that the woman was petite . . . but she was also pregnant. Heavily pregnant, at least eight or nine months along.
Sharak sent a mental message of his own to Dar, saying, Pelagia has told me of a woman with child in the forest. I will see if she's being pursued. The shape-shifter felt the human's concern, and Dar expressed his desire to find the woman as well . . . the boy could be so predictable at times.
But Sharak really didn't expect anything else from Dar. He had known the boy for a long time . . . and if Dar had expressed anything other than concern, Sharak would have been worried. He maintained his psychic link to the young man and flew toward the young woman. She had collapsed . . . and to Sharak's horror, the babe was birthed then and there. He sent another urgent message to his human friend. Dar! Hurry! The babe is birthing before my eyes! Dar's mental answer was just as urgent. He and Tao were on their way . . . was the woman being pursued? Sharak found no one in pursuit. But he didn't like the looks of this girl.
The girl wrapped her newborn babe in her own shawl, and Sharak now understood Pelagia's warning about her. The girl was dying. Sharak settled on a tree stump beside her, maintaining his psychic link with Dar. His mother and aunt had both been midwives . . . perhaps Dar would know what to do.
Instead, he felt Dar's anguish as he, too, watched the girl die. Sharak cursed himself. What had he been thinking? He knew how soft-hearted the boy was! And Sharak had been trapped in eagle-form for thousands of years, yet he still thought as a man. And as a man, he wouldn't have been helpless. As a man, he could have stopped this girl's death.
Only scant seconds after Sharak's landing, Dar and Tao arrived. Dar immediately dropped his staff and knelt beside the girl. He gently placed two fingers against her neck, then shook his head. With a deep sigh, the young BeastMaster turned his attention to the child.
With breath-taking tenderness, Dar removed the child from the arms of the dead mother and unwrapped the shawl. At his side, Tao said softly, "Dar, your knife." Dar frowned at the young scholar, who explained, "The cord must be cut."
Dar's mouth tightened, and the shapeshifter sympathized with the boy's reluctance to desecrate the poor girl's body. But it was necessary . . . and so, the young Sula removed his knife from its harness. He took a deep breath and cut the cord which bound the newborn to her mother.
A very hungry, very cold girl-child, who began screaming her lungs out. Dar wrapped the child once more, murmuring gentle endearments to her, and told Tao, "I'll need you to hold the little one while I bury her mother. And then we'll head back to the village."
Tao's mouth opened, as if he meant to protest, but no sound emerged as Dar gently placed the infant in his arms. With the babe safe (at least for the moment), the young BeastMaster knelt at the side of the dead girl. He whispered, "May Pelagia welcome and keep you."
He arranged the clothes, so that her body was covered, and murmured, "I'll need to find a blanket. Sharak, and Ruh, tell the other animals not to disturb her." The shape-shifter assented . . . and then Sharak realized that they were no longer alone.
He stared at the slender, golden-haired teenaged girl who approached, but had no time to warn Dar. So the boy was startled when Curupira, demon and divine guardian of the animals, said, "No animal or human shall disturb her remains, BeastMaster. She died in the forest, seeking only to birth her child in peace. She will be safe here." Dar turned, and saw the same sorrow in the young demon's face that Sharak saw.
"She is so young," Dar said softly, "the same age Kyra and I were when . . ." When his tribe had been wiped out. Even after thousands of years, Sharak could not help being moved by the young man's pain. The BeastMaster continued in a steadier voice, "We're taking the babe back to the Varoni."
"I think that would be wise. She was born in the forest, under my protection. She will remain under my protection, even if she is human. The Varoni have accepted my laws, so this is a fine solution for all," Curupira replied. Sharak was glad he was in eagle form . . . this way, Curupira couldn't hear his laughter.
The child tried so hard to pretend not to care, but Sharak saw through her pretense. As did her mother, as did Dar's own sister, Queen Carrin. But Sharak's eagle form didn't protect his thoughts from Curupira, who said crossly, "Do not test my patience, eagle."
Which, of course, had the opposite effect. Sharak began laughing, in his own eagle-way. Tao looked from Curupira to Sharak, then finally asked Dar in bewilderment, "Is . . . maybe I should just find something for the baby?" Sharak again struggled against his amusement. He felt sorry for Tao. He was in a situation he didn't understand.
"See if you can find a blanket for her mother. I don't even know what her name is," Dar murmured. He sounded distracted, and Sharak once more fumed over his own thoughtlessness. He knew how soft-hearted the boy was . . . there were times when Sharak feared for his young friend. But it was one of the qualities that the shape-shifter cherished most about Dar, too.
"Her name was Jadya . . . she escaped from the Terron camp after Zad took a liking to Kyra," the Mother Goddess observed, shimmering into being beside her daughter. Sharak would have rolled his eyes, if he could do so. He should have known she would make her appearance sooner or later. If anything, he was surprised she hadn't been here sooner.
The Mother Goddess made it a habit to appear when a mother died, particularly in childbirth. It had been Pelagia who took Etain's body after the Sula woman had died birthing Dar. Sharak had flown over head as Ril had given his dead wife to the goddess. Pelagia added, holding her arms out, "Give my child to me, Dar. I will see to her burial."
"How?" Tao blurted out. Pelagia just smiled at him, her brown eyes dancing with mischief, and Tao turned a deep shade of red. He mumbled, "Never mind, forget I asked that. I forgot I was speaking to a goddess." Now Pelagia laughed outright, her eyes sparkling.
"I've never known that to trouble you, young Eiron!" she teased as Dar gently placed the dead girl in the arms of the goddess. Tao turned even redder, though Sharak hadn't believed that was possible. Curupira rolled her eyes in annoyance, and Pelagia continued, asking Dar, "So, you are taking the babe back to your sister's village?"
"Mira will know what to do . . . who cannot have a child and desperately wants one, who will be a good parent to this little one," Dar answered. Pelagia nodded and Dar murmured, "And I take my visits with my sister where I can find them. There are still many things we haven't told each other."
Pelagia's eyes softened. It had only been a matter of weeks since Dar had learned that his older sister Mira was still alive. Nineteen years earlier, when Mira was ten and Dar three, she had been taken from the Sula by hunters who sold her to the Varoni tribe. The children of the Varoni had been wiped out by a plague, a plague which rendered the adults barren at the same time. The Varoni had been faced with extinction.
To carry on their tribe, the Varoni began abducting children from other tribes, or taking children in war. It had only been Mira's quick thinking which saved Dar. She had led the hunters away, allowing Pelagia to rescue Dar. The boy had grown up, believing his older sister was dead . . . and that it was his fault.
Less than a month earlier, that illusion was shattered. Dar and Tao had been ambushed by Lothians, a neighboring tribe who had sold out to the Terrons. Dar had been badly beaten during the attack, and it was only the intervention of the Varoni which saved his life.
The following week, Dar had learned the whole truth. Now called 'Carrin,' Mira had forced herself to forget about her early life, especially after the Terrons' slaughter of the Sula. So, when Dar and Tao appeared, Mira hadn't allowed herself to believe that her younger brother truly had survived that vicious assault.
It was the combined efforts of Pelagia and Curupira which had changed that. The tenth night after the attack, Curupira had ordered a feast, which all Varoni were to attend. Curupira's express purpose was to enlighten the Varoni about their queen . . . but she really wanted to reunite the siblings.
Now, three weeks after that night, and a week after Dar and Tao's departure from the Varoni village, they would be returning. Sharak approved. Dar and Mira still had much to discuss, as she had been both mother and older sister to the young boy in the time before her abduction.
"Your sister has never doubted your love for her, BeastMaster . . . and she will forever be happy to see you. But have a care. You cannot return her lost son to her. That is beyond your ability," Pelagia told him.
(Continued)
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