Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) Read Free Page B

baby’s right ankle. Jen quickly grabbed the baby’s foot and examined it. Her kind face suddenly hardening into a stern look as she turned to Kes. “Go get the Kinpa.”
                  “All five? What is it?”
                  “Just go child. Now! And tell those outside nothing.”
                  With a disappointed look, Kes turned towards the exit and ran out through the hanging cloth door.
                  With obvious difficulty, Lyn pushed herself up onto her arms. “What is it? What is wrong with my son?!”
                “Just lay down and rest child,” Jen soothed, “all will be fine when the Kinpa get here.”
                  “Give me my child, I want to hold him,” Lyn countered, struggling to keep herself from falling back to the blanket.
                  “You are exhausted child, you must rest,” Gil responded.
                “No!” Lyn demanded. “Not until I know what ails my son.”
                Gil and Jen looked at each other as if in mute conversation and then with a sigh Jen held up the baby displaying the child’s ankle. There on the protruding bone of the ankle was a black mark. Its shape was that of a sea star with all five tentacles curved in a clockwise direction having a dot just above the tip of each leg.
                  “What does it mean?” Lyn asked struggling to keep propped up.
                “I don’t know,” Jen said. “I have never seen the like.”
                “It’s an omen,” Gil rasped with a quivering voice. “It’s an evil omen. We should destroy the child.”
                  “No!” Lyn screamed. “You will not harm him!”
                “It is for the best,” Gil countered angrily. “He is not even a real person. He has yet to receive his Tane.”
                  “What if that is his Tane. Maybe it’s a new Tane and he was born with it. That would make him a real person.”
                  “Don’t be foolish Lyn, there are only the five Tane and you know it. How could he possibly receive his real TanIs now with the proper area covered by that?” Gil pointed at the mark, her face twisted into a look of horror and disgust. “I say we destroy him now. You will have other children Lyn.”
                  With great effort, Lyn pushed herself to a sitting position and grabbed Gil’s arm, pulling her close. “You will not touch my child!”
                  Jen rushed forward and pulled the two apart and then eased Lyn back down onto the mat. “Come now, that is enough from the both of you. Nothing will be decided until the Kinpa arrive and they determine what should be done. You two act as if you’ve barely passed your fifth year. Now, Gil, you keep your mouth shut and Lyn, you lie down and rest before we do have a death on our hands...your own!”
                  With visible effort, Gil and Lyn did as they were told and all became silent while they anxiously waited the arrival of the Chufa Elders. Even the child had quieted down into a peaceful slumber. 
                  It was not long before the hanging door of the hut was pushed aside and six men, followed closely by Kes, crowded into the small hut. Immediately, both Jen and Gil came to their feet and bowed their heads to the men. Lyn, unable to rise, simply bowed her head and said, “Welcome to this house Kinpa of the five Tane. May peace surround you in all things.”
                  “And to you and to this house,” they returned.
                “What goes on here?” the sixth man asked clearly annoyed. “Why was I not informed of the birth of my child and why were the Kinpa summoned?”
                  “Patience, Del,” Jen soothed. “All will be explained. First, I thank FelTehPa, Kinpa of the TehChao Tane;