Chapter Eight
8 - The Landpaters
They went into a courtyard and noticed a stable to one side, but they hurried forwards to some stairs and through the large wooden doors.
The man took off his hood and revealed a kind face with short hair, which was blond. He looked like he was coming slowly to an old age. "My name is Eldrus," he said, "I am the landpater healer."
"I don't suppose you have any food?" Rhias butted in.
The man smiled. "We were just about to have dinner. Would you care to join us?"
The four children agreed warmly.
"Well then, I must inform the cook we have more guests," he said. "Please, sit down. I'll be back shortly."
They sat down on comfortable chairs and looked around at the large hall.
It was solemnly silent in the building, and the three of them spoke to each other in whispers.
When Eldrus returned he showed them to the dining room.
The place was almost eerie as the walls were stone and there was not much light from the candles dotted here and there. The Henrysons could not remember ever being in a place like it before.
They came into a room as large as the entrance hall with one long wooden table in the centre.
"I must take my usual place," Eldrus said to them. "Guests sit up this end of the table. I shall hopefully see you again after the meal in the sitting room."
Sitting at the table were about ten other landpaters, all dressed in the same grey robes and all with the same short haircut. They were chatting quietly to each other and the children sat in silence at the end of the table.
A few more landpaters arrived until their numbers were around twenty, with an official looking man sitting at the head of the table, wearing black robes.
The food was simple and basic: bread with butter, cheese, carrots, parsley and eggs. The children did not mind, however, and ate as much as they could.
There were five other people sitting at their end of the table, dressed in normal Dorian clothes and were obviously also guests. One woman was clutching a baby and Jesse and Melissa wondered if she had come for a blessing on it, like what Rhias's parents had done.
When they finished eating a door to the left was opened and some of the landpaters went through. Eldrus beckoned the children to come in and they hurried in after him.
The next room (which was the sitting room Eldrus had mentioned) was quite bare except for various chairs around the room with a fireplace burning in the corner. They went over to join Eldrus who was sitting next to the man in the black robes.
"Ah, children, I was expecting you," the man in black robes smiled at Jesse and Melissa. "Yes, that's exactly how I saw you."
"This is Raynar, head landpater," Eldrus explained. He paused, and then said, "He's the one who had the vision of you."
"Oh," Jesse said, smiling at him. "Err... Hello." He was not sure what else to say.
"I would like to talk to both of you," Raynar said, indicating for them to sit down. Rhias and Tably hovered uncertainly. Eldrus gave them an encouraging nod and they all sat down together.
"So," Raynar began, moving in his chair to get more comfortable. "You have the gift of foresight, do you?"
"Yes," they said.
"Do you understand much about it?"
They shook their heads.
"I thought not," he sighed. "Well, you must understand that it is a powerful and dangerous gift, so never use what you see unwisely - you have no control over when you see visions, so be greatful for what you do see. I don't suppose you understand where you got it from?"
They shook their heads again.
"Well, most of the time people have the gift by getting two parents who were decended from someone who had the gift. So both of your parents must have had some relative long ago with the power."
"In Bidham?" Jesse said surprised.
"Well, you must understand that it can come from centuries and centuries ago. Who knows where your great, great, great, great, grandparents came from?"
"So it's the same with you?" Melissa asked, trying to work it out.
"Well... not exactly," Raynar admitted. "The angelic Empress Sarifia grants the new leader of the landpaters the gift as the symbol that they are to be chosen as the leader. I was just lucky enough to be chosen. You see, it is our job to govern the land in a way the king doesn't do. We sort of represent the Empress too."
"Is Hanni a landpater then?" Melissa asked. "She was a companion of ours for a while."
"No!" Raynar said, laughing so hard that he could not speak for a moment. Apparently Melissa had said something highly amusing.
"No! Some people," Raynar began, with a tone that showed he did not at all approve, "believe that they are special messengers of Empress Sarifia... I mean, who am I to deny it? Hanni and her fellow messengers probably have met with the Empress; it's just that I can't help thinking that they must be under some misconception - why would the Empress choose single people to see her - in the fifth dimension too! - when she has us landpaters! Anyway, Hanni could never be one of us - we are people of peace and will never be involved in violence."
Jesse and Melissa were not sure if these comments were true, or if they were Raynar's personal opinion of someone who may have been chosen over himself. Either way, they had always thought of Hanni as a true leader and would not likely be convinced against that.
"What if violence comes to you?" Jesse asked, "What if Lord Gendon comes charging in?"
"Then we will ask the Empress for protection," Raynar said calmly. "And if she does not give it, that is her decision."
Jesse looked unsatisfied, but didn't say anything.
"As I was saying, every vision you see will be granted by the Empress. Even though you come from another land, she still has watched over you as you are obviously somehow descended from Doria. The gift of foresight is given to the head landpater as whenever the Empress wants a new landpater, she sends us a vision of the person, their new name and where to find them. Well, she doesn't always give all that information, but most of it. Then one of the landpaters is sent out to find the person. The person is uaually easy to find as they possess the marks of a landpater. If they also happen to have foresight, then that means they are to become the new leader."
He halted, then added,
"Whether the last landpater has died or not. They come back to Orstina, adopt their new name and live here as one of us.
"What if they don't want to come?" Melissa asked.
"Melissa," Jesse explained, "if they had been in a vision then there is nothing they can do about it. You can't change what is going to happen!"
"That is not strictly true," Raynar said quickly. "And listen carefully, for this is very important. It is true that when a vision of a landpater is had they must come, for the Empress commands it, but any other type of vision does not have to be followed."
"But they're visions of the future, aren't they?" Rhias put in.
"Yes, but visions are not seeing what will come to pass," Raynar explained, "but what might come to pass."
There was a silence, then Jesse said, "But everything I have ever foreseen has happened... I think..."
"Well, they might have," Raynar said, "but that would be unusual. If you have a vision it is what might be to come. Some other outcome may occur - but chances are that it would happen. If (as it sometimes happens in unlikely situations) you have two visions of the same thing and the outcome happens two different ways, then the chance of either happening is perfectly equal. But, I suppose what you see is not always the likely outcome. Just what is possible."
"So it is sometimes hard for the landpaters," Eldrus added, "because they must come."
"Was it hard for you two when you had to come?" Melissa asked.
"Past lives are forgotten here," Raynar said, his voice suddenly hardening. "It is a landpater law that he must forget all his past, give it up and become a full landpater until he dies."
"That's horrible," Jesse said.
Raynar stood up, smoothing out his robes. "It is the law, and you must not question it. In fact, it happens to be law four of Empress Sarifia's laws, so there's no questioning it. Now, it is time for sleep. Come along."
He and Eldrus led them to two chambers, one for the girls and one for the boys.
"This is fun," Rhias said, jumping onto her soft bed. "It's been ages since I've slept in a bed this soft!"
"Yeah," Melissa agreed, sinking into its warmth. Of course her bed in Miradel had been nice, but she simply missed her own simple bed and her own pillow.
Meanwhile, the boys were already getting into their beds and turning off the light. They spoke for a while in darkness.
"How many days journey is it to Silvadale castle?" Jesse asked sleepily.
"Just three days on foot, if we're lucky," Jesse replied.
Rhias wouldn't shop chatting for about half an hour and in the end Melissa had to ask her bluntly to stop talking so she could sleep.
Lying in bed, Melissa suddenly realised with a jolt that her sense of security had now disappeared. Whenever she felt in danger, when spirits were coming for her or when she'd fallen off the waterfall or anything else she had always felt a bit secure with the thought that she knew that she would one day end up getting happily married in Bidham as she had foreseen it. But now she knew that this was only what might come to pass.
She felt very uncomfortable and sad as she lay on the soft bed, and she and her brother in the other room were both wishing then that they could be back at home together with their mother. Raynar's vision that they would help Doria could only have been what might happen. Neither could decide whether they wanted it to be true or not.
The next day they got up and went to the dinning room for breakfast. They were surprised to see they were eating the same thing as the previous dinner. But they didn't altogether mind.
Eldrus passed by them a little later as he entered. Tably called to him.
"Can we go to see Sarifia's dais? Tably asked.
Eldrus looked suspicious. "Why?"
"Well, that day when it was open for anyone to see about five years ago... I went to see it with my aunt and uncle... I really wanted to show my friends. I... I really liked it," he said almost sheepishly.
"Well... I suppose since you are the ones in the vision... well, I'll ask Raynar later."
He shuffled off to his place around the table.
"What's Sarifia's dais?" Jesse asked curiously.
"It's a sacred monument that is kept inside Orstina," Tably explained in a low voice. "No-one can see it except once every ten years. It was open for visitors five years ago and I saw it. It was said to be put there by Sarifia herself. Nobody knows really what it's for but it's called Sarifia's dais."
After breakfast Eldrus came back saying they had Raynar's permission.
Eldrus led them through a few rooms and then to one with three heavy silver padlocks. He pulled out a ring of keys, chose the newest looking one which was also made out of silver and opened each lock. He then turned back to them with a solemn look and slowly pushed open the door for them.
They were all deadly quiet. They could sense the seriousness of the place. It almost had a lonely sense about it.
They walked slowly in. The room was large and completely bare except for a huge opaque window covering the whole of the far wall and a large stone dais in the middle of the room.
All four of them knew without asking there was no way in the world they could touch it. They walked up to it and marvelled at it as they walked around it. There were carvings in it of runes and pictures far beyond the skill of any in Miradel. The light from outside made weird patterns on the dais and they were slightly intimidated by it.
"I still don't get what it's for," Melissa said in a hushed voice.
"We don't know, but it draws you in, doesn't it?" Eldrus replied. "So many people have been absorbed by trying to work out what it is. But that's the beauty of it, isn't it? That's why everyone likes it. The mystery!"
"Doria is a very strange place," Melissa whispered to her brother. "So many unusual things that don't make sense. And this dias feels like it could be magical or something!"
"Magical? What a funny idea! I know Doria has centaurs and someone with long-life, but I don't think it's at all magical. Just different."
Melissa looked unconvinced.
"Well, you would have to say that we were magical then," Jesse said, nudging her. "We have foresight!"
"But we're not magical! I don't think..."
"Exactly! Then you can hardly say that any of this stuff is magical! Perhaps it just has this feeling cause maybe it's from the fifth dimension, like where the Empress is..."
Struck with this new thought, the children went silently into thought.
"You will probably never see this again," Eldrus said to them. "But then again, many who have seen Sarifia's dais are forever entranced by it and come every ten years. It has been known to happen to many people. You, Tably... you could not even wait that long. You took this as an excuse, didn't you?"
"It's hard not to be interested," Tably said, fixated on it. They all silently agreed that the thing was very entrancing and were already making preparations to come again in five years, until the Henrysons remembered they had to leave in a few weeks back to Bidham.