by Bryan Davis
He stretched to grab the branch, but it stayed just inches above his fingers. With no foundation from which to jump, it might as well have been a mile.
She reached down and grabbed his wrist. “I’ll pull you.” Grunting, she heaved until his hand came in contact with the branch. He latched on and hoisted himself the rest of the way.
Now facing Regina, he took a deep breath. She smiled so broadly, her face seemed ready to crack.
“What is it?” he asked.
She covered her mouth, masking a giggle. “I have a secret.”
“A secret? What?”
“Hold up some fingers and ask me to guess how many.”
“Okay.” He held up three fingers. “How many?”
“Three!”
“Good guess.”
She bounced in place, making the branch sway. “Again!”
He closed his hand, then held up three fingers. “Now how many?”
Her brow furrowed. “You didn’t change the number.”
“Regina?” Adrian bent low and looked into her eyes. “You can see?”
Her smile growing even wider, she nodded. “That’s my secret!”
“That’s wonderful!” He grabbed her and held her close. “The water did heal you after all!”
“Maybe it had to soak in.”
“I suppose so.” He looked up. The next level was well within reach. “Are you ready to keep climbing?”
“Ready! This will be even more fun now.”
She pushed to her feet and scrambled up to the branch above. Adrian followed, staying close behind her, just in case.
As they climbed through level after level, the trunk began to bend to one side, forcing them to ascend at an angle. Soon, another trunk came into view, angling toward theirs. The individual branches became thinner, though they grew in number. The two climbers squeezed through smaller gaps, pushing the spindly branches aside as if they were real spider webs.
Finally, at the point where the two trunks merged, Adrian poked his head through a hole. In a much larger gap between levels, a bed stood within reach on the matrix of branches, the back of the headboard facing him so that the bed’s occupant stayed out of view. Bracing himself on what appeared to be the floor of this new level, he squeezed through the opening and crawled into the room.
When Regina followed, he grabbed her arms and lifted her through, her smaller body fitting much more easily. He stood and eyed the tree. With the twin trunks merging into a single trunk just below the floor, and with two branchless limbs overhead, it seemed that the tree resembled an extraordinarily tall man with woody arms and legs. One of the arms extended over the bed, its five-fingered hand open with its palm facing up.
Adrian raised and lowered his feet. With the thin branches intertwining underneath, they looked more like roots than branches, and they seemed too fragile to hold up his weight without bending.
A gasping, wheezing sound came from somewhere nearby. Adrian walked gingerly around to the side of the bed. As his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, he clutched the bed’s rail and felt the sheet for an occupant. No one was there.
Regina joined him and held his hand. The mist swirled around their melded fingers. “I see other beds,” she said.
Now able to focus clearly, Adrian looked around. They stood at a bedside in a rectangular room with beds lining the nearer wall to the right and the farther wall to the left. This empty bed seemed to be the middle of five on their side. Light in the room emanated from two lanterns on each wall. Their flames, barely visible, seemed insufficient for such a large chamber.
A glimmer appeared from behind the first bed in their row. A radiant girl, perhaps a teenager, stood on the opposite side, leaning over a heaving lump covered by a sheet. “Breathe, Edison!” she called with a plaintive cry. “Please keep trying!”
“Edison? My father?” Adrian ran toward the bed, the thin branches easily supporting his weight. He stopped at the side across from the girl, clutched the rail, and reached for the occupant’s head. Adrian’s mist-covered hand glowed, illuminating the face of Edison Masters.
* * *
SIX
* * *
EDISON sucked in a gurgling, halting breath, then exhaled with a nasally whistle. His eyes stayed clenched shut, as if pain throttled every second of respiration.
“Father!” Adrian called. “It’s me—your son.”
He offered no response, just another round of excruciating gasps for breath.
Adrian looked at the girl across the bed. Like himself and Regina, glowing mist coated her body. “What’s wrong with my father?”
When she looked at him, her face twisted in anguish. “Adrian, I’m afraid he has taken a turn for the worse. When you left, he was resting comfortably in a normal bed, but when he worsened, we moved him to the healing trees.”
“Healing trees?” Adrian looked at the tree behind his father’s bed, a duplicate of the one he had climbed. It, too, extended an arm over the bed. “How do they heal? Why isn’t it working?” He paused, squinting. “And how do you know my name?”
“I am Deference. We met when you came here before.”
“But you were invisible then. Now you’re—” Irritated, he waved a hand. “Never mind. Just tell me about the healing trees.”
Deference pointed at the extended arm. “We need to place a stardrop in this tree’s hand. Only that will heal your father.”
“A stardrop? How can I get a stardrop?”
“By scooping out a piece of Exodus in the star chamber.”
His father wheezed again, this time unable to breathe for several seconds. Finally, air broke through.
Adrian exhaled with him. How long could he survive? “Where is this star chamber?”
Deference pointed across the room. “Through those doors and down the hall. When you reach the foyer, turn left through the opening in the wall.”
Adrian looked in that direction. An open double doorway led to a wide corridor. A young woman stood there, facing him. With shining green eyes, flowing red hair, and a white dress and blue cloak draped over a thin body, her identity was unmistakable. “Cassabrie?” he whispered.
Cassabrie walked toward the bed, her bare feet light on the branches. When she arrived, she stood nearly toe to toe with him and tilted her head up, looking him in the eye. “Will you trust me to give you counsel?”
Adrian locked gazes with her. As always, even in her emaciated state, her beauty was mesmerizing. Yet, since she no longer resided within, blocking her hypnotic effect seemed much easier. “I will listen.”
“First, allow me to ask, how is Marcelle faring?”
“Still unconscious. She woke up to help me in a fight, and she seemed to recognize me, but she slipped back again.”
Cassabrie looked away. “Her ability to see through her physical eyes is sharpening. That’s a good sign.”
“We can talk about Marcelle later. What can I do about my father?”
“Nothing.” She refocused on him. “You will not be able to get a stardrop, not in your current state.”
“My current state? What do you mean?”
She fanned out her cloak. “As you will remember, whenever I am in your presence here on Starlight, I am invisible. The same is true with Deference. Now you and your young traveling companion are in the same state, invisible to the living souls here in the Northlands, though we are visible to each other.”
Adrian glanced from Regina to Deference to Cassabrie. All three wore shrouds of mist. “But I’m not a spirit. I didn’t die.”
“When you climbed through the portal, you transformed. When you go back, you will revert to your normal state, though that wouldn’t work for Deference or me, since our bodies are elsewhere.”
Adrian nodded briskly. “Okay. That’s a good enough explanation for now. Just help me figure out how to get the stardrop. If I can’t do it, who can?”
“Your brother Jason is here, and he is attempting that feat as we speak. Since he must scoop
out some of the star’s radiance and carry the hot material a great distance, his success is not at all assured, so I suggest praying for him. There is nothing else you can do.”
A white dragon flew through the doorway and settled close to the bed, barely bending the floor at all. Adrian resisted the urge to back away. This was the king, the dragon who had saved his father’s life earlier, the one the other white dragon called Alaph.
Regina thrust a hand into Adrian’s and held it tightly, trembling but saying nothing.
After studying Adrian and Regina for a few seconds, Alaph blew a stream of icy vapor. “Your presence is unexpected, especially your lack of physical state and your mode of entry.” Adrian bowed his head. “I didn’t know the path would lead me here. If I am intruding, I apologize, but I have to find a way to help my father.”
“The best way to help your father is to go back the way you came and continue your quest to free your people. There is nothing you can do for him here. Your brother will have to be your surrogate. You may watch his efforts, if you dare, but you will not be able to help or even speak to him. You will be invisible in his perspective and unable to move anything here, save for the tree branches.”
“You said dare.” Adrian glanced at Regina. “Is there any danger?”
Alaph drew his head back, bending his neck into an S shape. “There is danger, but only to you and the girl, not to Deference or Cassabrie.”
“Why? What danger?”
“I assume you saw others of my species as you climbed the trees.”
Adrian nodded. “I saw three. I was going to ask you about them.”
Alaph stared at him, his head bobbing as his eyes scanned Adrian from head to toe. After nearly a minute, Adrian backed away. “Well?” he asked.
Alaph’s brow arched up. “Well what?”
“Aren’t you going to tell me about the other three white dragons?”
“If you ask, I will tell. You merely said that you were going to ask.”
Adrian let out a huff, then enunciated carefully. “Who are the other three dragons, and why are they imprisoned in the trees?”
Alaph’s head floated a few inches from Adrian’s face as he spoke with a tone of mystery. “The four of us are the Benefile. We are prophets of Starlight who are able to influence humans. The longer you stay in your present state, the more susceptible you are to the influence. My subjects have been here in my palace for a long time, so they are fully submitted to me and to the precepts of the Creator. They began their submission by choice and are now captivated, slaves by their own free will, if you can accept that paradox. The other three members of my race conspired to guide humans away from the Creator, thinking they themselves could be worshiped in the Creator’s place.”
Drawing back again, Alaph altered to a normal tone. “There is much more to tell, but this is not the time. For now, you must decide whether you will stay and watch your brother’s efforts or leave before the influence grows beyond your limits or the limits of the girl who accompanies you.”
Adrian looked Alaph in the eye. The influence didn’t appear to be strong, but experience with Cassabrie’s indwelling proved that discerning his mental competence was almost impossible. Still, he had to see what would happen to Father. He could withstand an entrapped dragon’s wiles, and he could protect Regina as well. She would follow him no matter what.
Taking Regina’s hand, Adrian gave Alaph a firm nod. “I will stay.”
Alaph let out a sigh. “As you wish.”
Cassabrie whirled around, making her cloak swish in a wide circle. “I think I hear Jason. I’d better meet him at the door.” She ran across the floor, her bare feet not even touching the branches.
“Stand wherever you wish,” Alaph said, “but do not speak. You will confuse him and potentially hinder your father’s recovery.”
Hand in hand, Adrian and Regina walked closer to the doorway, stopping at the halfway point. As Cassabrie looked out expectantly, her cloak flowed as if blown by the wind. Soon, Jason appeared well down the hallway, running with all his might while holding something in his fist.
Cassabrie reached out her hands. “I’ll take it the rest of the way!”
“I’ve got it!” Jason ran past her, but when his foot landed on the branches, it punched through, sending his leg into the floor up to his thigh. Adrian took a hard step, but Regina pulled him back. “You can’t help,” she whispered.
Jason grabbed a vine and tried to climb out, but he stiffened. With his teeth clenched and his eyes tightly shut, he seemed unable to move.
Cassabrie ran to him, her hand open. “Give it to me, Jason! Hurry! I will save your father.”
“I’ll take it to him!” Jason reached with a bloody hand. “Help me out!”
“Don’t be a fool!” Cassabrie shouted. “Give it to me!”
Deference cried out from the bed. “He’s not breathing! I can’t clear the airway!”
“Okay! Okay!” Jason presented a shining sphere between his thumb and finger and placed it on Cassabrie’s palm. “Hurry!”
While she ran to the bed, Jason struggled to climb out of the hole. Adrian flexed his muscles, mentally trying to help. Somehow Jason had injured his hands. Both bled profusely as he pulled on the branches, but he soon managed to stand.
Now stepping more carefully, Jason hurried to his father, while Adrian and Regina followed. Cassabrie stood on the mattress, staring at the tree’s extended hand. The shining sphere lay on its palm. It shrank in a splash of sparks that penetrated the hand’s bark, making it glow from top to bottom and radiate down the tree’s arm to a knot that looked like an elbow. Soon the sparks drizzled over Father’s head and covered his forehead and cheeks, erupting in an array of colors before transforming to white snow-like flakes.
Father gasped, and his body heaved. Then, he took in a long, deep draw of air before settling into a rhythmic pattern, breathing without a rattle.
Cassabrie climbed down from the bed, leaned over Father, and collected the glowing flakes. “Show me your wounds,” she said as she turned toward Jason.
Jason held out his hands. Cassabrie spread the particles over the lacerations and pressed his palms together. White smoke and glittering radiance leaked between his hands and spilled over his skin.
When the smoke cleared, Cassabrie released him. “Let’s see how they look.”
Spreading out his fingers, Jason smiled. “Thank you. They feel perfect.”
Adrian leaned over Jason’s shoulder to get a better look. Dried blood covered his brother’s palms and fingers, but the wounds were gone.
Jason stepped to the bed. Adrian edged back, holding his breath. Oh, to embrace him and shout out congratulations! He had brought the stardrop and healed Father! But the king had forbidden it. Just looking on proudly would have to do.
“How is he?” Jason asked.
“Let’s see if he’ll wake up.” Deference gently stroked Father’s forehead. “Mr. Masters. Edison Masters. It’s time to wake up.”
Father took in a deep draw of air again, this time through his nose. “I detect a familiar scent. Dreams of my son have leaked into the air.”
“Father,” Jason said. “Open your eyes.”
Father’s eyes opened. “Jason? Son, is that really you?”
“Yes.” Jason’s voice cracked. “Yes, I’m here.”
Father sat up and scanned the room. “We’re in the dragon world. Not at home. This is the same castle, the white dragon’s castle, where the dragon brought me after I fell into the river. All the legends were true, and I wasn’t dreaming.”
“They’re all true,” Jason said.
Adrian glanced at the white dragon. His stare seemed to draw him closer. “Go now,” Alaph whispered. “Your father is well, and there is no more for you to see.”
While Jason and their father continued to chat, Adrian guided Regina to the tree behind the bed. Although this wasn’t the same tree they had ascended, maybe it would be a good idea to risk taking a new pa
th. Maybe they could meet and talk to a different white dragon.
He lowered himself through the gap feetfirst, then helped Regina climb to the next limb down. Once both had settled in a face-to-face straddling position, Adrian whispered, “If what the king said is true, those white dragons might try to tell us to do something we shouldn’t do, so don’t listen to them.”
Regina covered her ears. “I won’t listen.”
“Good girl.” Adrian climbed down the limbs, watching Regina with every step, until they reached the level above the misty portal. He stooped on the sturdy limb and held Regina at his side.
“It’s a long way to the next one,” she said.
“I can jump and catch you when you jump.”
She looked at him, her eyes filled with doubt. “How good are you at catching?”
Half closing his eyes, he touched his chest. “I will have you know that I am the most expertest of catchers. Once Jason fell out of a tree, and I caught him. Even though he was young, he was bigger than you, and I’m bigger now than I was then. Besides, the mist might grab us and slow our fall.”
“Okay,” she said, stretching out the word. “I guess I can do it.”
Adrian sat on the limb, letting his legs dangle. After gauging the distance, he slid off and dropped. He burst through the mist and landed with a thump on the limb, bending his knees to absorb the impact. The limb cracked and shifted. Adrian flailed his arms to keep his balance, then toppled forward.
After dropping about four feet, he thrust out his hands just in time to keep from smacking face-first into the next level’s limb, but even with the cushion, his cheek slammed against the hard wood, and his legs plunged through the branches. Dazed and aching, he hung on, his body dangling below the woody matrix.
“Are you all right?” Regina called.
Adrian swung his body up to the limb and lay prostrate on it. “I think so.”
“I guess you’re a good catcher but not so good at jumping.”
His head throbbing, Adrian laughed. “I suppose you’re right.”