Archangel by Sharon Shinn Read Free Book Online Page B

much of a leader as these people had spread his hands wide. “Who can say?” he said. “They may have gone to Gaza or to Bethel or to Luminaux. We will see them again at the Gathering.”
    “You mean, you have no idea where any of these people are at any time?”
    “Not until the Gathering. Then we tell stories of where we have been and what we have seen.”
    “You can’t even make a guess?”
    “We could guess. We know where we would go at this time of year. But look, we are here and the Chievens are not. Where else would you like us to guess? One place is as likely as another.”
    Gabriel waited a moment, until his anger had passed. “And the next Gathering,” he said. “When is it to be, and where?”
    “In the fields west of Luminaux, five months from now.”
    “Five months! But I don’t have five months to spare!”
    The dark eyes stared at him from the circle of dark faces. None of the Edori had a comment to offer on that.
    “I see,” Gabriel said after a long silence. “You have no more help that you can give me.”
    “We have told you what we can.”
    “Yes, and more than I could have expected to learn from you,” Gabriel said, rising to his feet. “It is not your fault I need to know more.”
    The middle-aged man rose too; the others remained seated. “Stay—eat the evening meal with us,” the leader urged him. “You are tired and angry, and you should be refreshed with food and companionship.”
    “I am tired and angry, and I am in a desperate hurry,” Gabriel said. “I thank you for your offer. And for all your assistance. But I must go now.”
    And he had left, knowing it was rude, knowing there was nothing he could learn during a night flight back to the Eyrie and that he should have stayed to show his appreciation. But he had spoken the truth: He was made restless by desperation, and he could not have stayed. Jovah guide him, where could she
be
?
    During the next two weeks, Gabriel made an erratic search through the three provinces of Samaria, looking for bands of Edori who might through some fantastic stroke of luck be the Chievens. He did happen upon two more small tribes, but neither of them were the Chievens, and no one in either tribe knew where the Chievens could be found, nor did they know anything of a small farm village in the Caitana Mountains.
    Once, when his route took him past Josiah’s mountain retreat, he stopped to see if the oracle had any more aid to give him. Unfortunately he did not.
    “All I can tell you is that she is still alive,” Josiah said. “I cannot tell you where she is.”
    “Then how is it you could tell me where she once was?”
    The old man gave him a faint smile. “Because when she was dedicated, a record was made of where the dedication took place, and where she was born, and who her parents were. I know she is still alive, because her Kiss is still animate—Jovah can still sense her existence. But as to where she is—” He spread his hands.
    “Very well. She’s alive. And she’s lost. What happens if months go by and I still cannot find her? And the day of the Gloria arrives. What then?”
    Josiah regarded him somberly. “That is a very serious question,” he said.
    “Will any woman do? Perhaps I can press Ariel or Magdalena into service—or, no, it must be a human woman—can I just find a mortal woman with a passable voice and have her sing the Gloria at my side? Will that satisfy Jovah? Or must it be this woman—this Rachel?”
    Josiah was nodding thoughtfully. “The answer is—I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Because, in the past, there have been times when the angelica has been unable to perform. When Michael was Archangel, thirty-five years ago, there were three consecutive years when the angelica Ruth lay too ill to speak, and their daughter sang at his side. And there are stories from even longer ago, when the angelica or the Archangel was unable to perform, and substitutes were found, and Jovah accepted the new