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Butthe unicorn priestess was shaking her head angrily at the idea.
“Mostcertainly not!Asa divine representation of theGoddessof theShiningHeart, you must betreatedlike a goddess—which means that your feet must never touch the ground!Nowmount yourself upon their shoulders and let us see how they function as your steeds.”
Sothere was no choice but forCeliato seat herself—very carefully and very awkwardly—uponHold’sandFierce’sshoulders.Luckilythey were almost the same height—Fiercewas just a little bit taller—so it wasn’t too uneven.
Withoutasking,Fiercewrapped his arm around her left leg andHoldwrapped his arm around her right.Celialiked that—she didn’t feel quite so wobbly with them holding her firmly.Shedidn’t quite know what to do with her hands, though.Eventuallyshe reached around and placed her fingertips lightly on their broad shoulders, the better to keep her balance.
“Verygood,”La’ver’na, who had been watching the whole operation, pronounced. “Nowfollow me.”
“Whatabout the ship?”Fiercegrowled, holding his ground. “Arewe just supposed to leave it here in the middle of this field?”
Hepointed at the long range shuttle andCeliasaw that it’s formerly sleek silver hull was covered in dents—it looked like an angry giant with a hammer had gone after it!
“Itwill be taken to our repair shop,” the priestess assured him. “Ipromise our mechanics will make it theirtoppriority.Inthe meantime, the three of you must come with me.Youmust be properly dressed if you are to be inducted into theSisterhood.Nowcome.”
Shetapped her two “steeds” on the tops of their heads and they began moving off together, the wicker seat withLa’ver’namounted on their shoulders swaying slightly with each step.
“Okay, easyBrother—we have to stay in perfect sync with each other,”Holdmurmured. “Sodon’t get ahead of me.”
“I’llbe fine,”Fiercegrowled. “Comeon—they’re leaving us!”
Hestarted out andHoldhad to hurry to keep up.Forjust a moment,Celiafelt like she was either going to be torn in two or fall off—she was so high up in the air it would have been a nasty tumble.
“Whoa!” she exclaimed, swaying as she looked for something to hold on to.
“Sorry, my lady,”Holdsaid. “Comeon—try again,Brother.”
“Allright,”Fiercemuttered and added, “Sorry,Celia.”
“It’sokay—just don’t dump me off—it’s a long way to fall!”Celiatold them.
Theystarted off again and this time the two of them finally got their pacing together and got moving, followingLa’ver’nadown the rolling purple hill towards the forest in the distance.
Itoccurred toCeliathat the repairs to the ship might take some time—she wasn’t going to get home to reunite withPeterany time soon.Well, he would just have to wait for her and hopefully she would get home in time for the wedding.
Shehad no idea what she was going to go through before she finally got back toEarth.
28
CELIA
“Welcometo our compound,”La’ver’nasaid, as they left the rolling grasslands and entered the shade of the forest.Thetrees were huge—much bigger than oak trees,Celiathought.Infact, many of them were as big as the giant sequoia trees that grew inCalifornia.
Thatwas where the resemblance ended, though.Theydidn’t grow straight up—they had knotted, twisty trunks that grew in all different directions with branches that spread in a wide circumference.Theirbarks were papery and white, like a birch tree but the leaves were a dark, rich purple with hints of royal blue and scarlet, depending on how they caught the light.
Butthere was more than the trees to look at.Asthey got deeper into the forest, they met other men and their “goddesses” going back and forth.Mostof the women rode on a wicker goddess seat on their mens’ shoulders, likeLa’ver’nawas.Butsome rode in woven sedan chairs with long poles attached, and some were simply being carried in a man’s arms.
Celiathought most of the women being carried around this way looked happy and serene—as did the men who were carrying them.Manyof them greetedLa’ver’na, who had put her golden sun mask back on, with a bow of the head and a reverent, “Goodday to you,Priestess.”
La’ver’naacknowledged them regally with a nod of her head but said not a word until they reached the largest treeCeliahad ever seen.Itsmassive trunk was as big around as an office building and its enormous branches rose so high they got lost in the pale pink of the sky.Itsdeep purple leaves looked to be the size of blankets toCelia, who was craning her neck to try and see the whole thing.
“Thisis theMotherTree.”La’ver’na’svoice was hushed and reverent. “Thisis where we live and where many of us work.Youwill be staying here onFirstBranch, which is where the dormitory for our new recruits is located.Someof your work may be located onSecondorThirdBranchand our communal dining area is located onFourthBranch, but above that level, you must not go until you have become full members of theSisterhoodofPeace.”
“Don’tgo above the fourth branch—got it.”Celianodded gravely. “That, uh, shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Verygood—obedience and adherence to our laws is very important for new recruits.”La’ver’nanodded. “Well, let us ascend toFirstBranchsoIcan get you properly dressed and show you to your dormitory.Iwill also explain our way of living, so that you may begin to school yourselves in the lore of theGoddessof theShiningHeart.”
“Um, okay but…how do we get up there?”Celiaasked doubtfully.Eventhe distance up to the first massive branch—which was itself thicker than a good sized tree trunk—was at least fifty feet off the ground.Shewasn’t one to be afraid of heights, but she didn’t think she would be able to get a good enough grip on the papery white bark to climb all that way.Backhome at the gym, she never did well on the rock-climbing wall and there they had a harness to keep you safe.Celiadidn’t see any safety harnesses here.
