by Shannah Jay
‘I don’t understand what this is all about,’ she said when she’d finished, ‘but I don’t,’ a yawn cut off her words, ‘want to go south. There’s too much Discord down near Tenebrak at the moment. I’m grateful to you for saving me from those men, truly grateful, but please, can’t you just let me go now?’
When they neither answered nor urged her on again, she leaned back against the tree trunk, closed her eyes for a minute and didn’t wake up again until past mid-day, when a beam of sunlight filtering through the branches above struck her face.
As soon as she opened her eyes, one of the deleff started nudging her to get up, so she attended quickly to her
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physical needs, picked up her pack and began trudging through the wildwoods. One deleff led the way and trampled a path for her through the tangled undergrowth, while the other followed. She thought about trying to escape, but somehow it all seemed too much trouble.
Every now and then, when they came to ripe fruit or nuts, the deleff would stop to let her pick some, and she filled her water bottle several times at pools or small streams. Such sweet, clean water here in the wildwoods, a real pleasure to drink.
And all the time, the rhythms of the deleff’s feet beat into her brain. K-thump, k-thump, k-thump. On and on.
She could tell from her own inner sense of direction, as well as from the angle of the sun’s rays as they passed through clearings that they were still heading southwards. She tried several times to persuade the two deleff either to let her go, or to turn northwards with her, but in the end she gave up trying and just walked on, one step after another, till she could walk no further.
Then, and only then, would they let her sleep for a while. And it seemed irrelevant to them whether it was night or day when they stopped. Her tiredness was the only thing that ended the periods of travel.
***
It was hard to keep count, but Karialla thought it must have been about five days later when the deleff stopped in a big clearing where a quiet pool reflected back the dappled light and where a gigantic deleff, even larger than her two companions, stood waiting for them. A nudge sent her stumbling forward to stand in front of it.
‘I don’t understand what you want of me,’ she shouted, weary of this long silent walk. ‘Why are you doing this?’ She could hear the hysterical edge to her voice and had to clamp her lips together or she would have burst into tears. The fear of raiders might have been banished by the deleff, but the uncertainty about what they wanted with her was fretting her nerves. And she was physically exhausted after all the walking, so tired she ached to lie down and rest for days.
The new deleff stamped its feet and the ground trembled, then it raised its head and gave a long, shrill call. Karialla would have backed away from it, but found herself quite unable to move. A numbness seemed to have settled in her limbs and she couldn’t even turn her head. All she could do was wait, with fear churning inside her belly. She still wasn’t afraid for her safety, but she was afraid of the unknown, afraid of the strangeness of these gigantic creatures.
This third deleff seemed chill and majestic, different from the others and alien in a way she couldn’t explain, as if it wasn’t quite of her world.
Very slowly, the creature bent its great head, unfurling a ruff that seemed to hold shimmering echoes of all the colours of the rainbow in its translucent folds. When Karialla remained standing like a frozen statue, one of the other deleff pushed her gently forward. It seemed right to her to stretch up her hands and let them rest on the smooth dry skin of the enormous head that was bent towards her. With one hand on each side of the gleaming silver-grey eyes she waited for she knew not what.
For long slow minutes they stood there, skin touching skin. Karialla could hardly breathe, for it seemed, it really did seem, as if the new deleff was trying to communicate with her. An image came into her mind of herself walking through the wildwoods behind a deleff, moving easily in the tracks it made, followed by a second deleff.
Yes, she thought, that’s exactly what’s been happening. Exactly.
Another image followed: herself arriving at a place easily recognisable as the town of Tenebrak, accompanied by her two guardians. No, she thought trying to summon up anger, but failing, no, I don’t want to go back to Tenebrak. It’s too dangerous still in the south. But she couldn’t speak the words aloud, only shake her head slightly.
Next came a picture of a massive stone building with beautiful carved stonework around the entrance, standing on a hilltop. She’d never seen its like and it definitely didn’t exist in Tenebrak or in any other town she’d ever seen. What was it? Was that where the deleff were taking her?
The final picture was of the Healers’ Courts in Tenebrak, the place where she’d received her training. In the picture, she saw a group of Healers of the First Cadre, her mentor Thera among them, wearing the long blue robes she’d have been wearing now, if she hadn’t left to marry Pavlin. That scene from her past was followed by a picture of herself in the same blue robes, standing alone.
Well, she thought, in a surge of rebellion, I’m not a Healer of the First Cadre, and it’ll be a long time before I go back to Tenebrak to complete my training, because I’m not returning until I’m absolutely sure that Discord has ended.
Even the thought of another encounter with raiders made her shudder.
And besides, the town held too many memories—memories of Pavlin, memories of a young, carefree Karialla, memories of the wonder of learning her craft. I can’t face those memories yet, she thought desperately. I was wrong even to think of going back to Tenebrak. I just can’t do it! And there’s Rojan to face as well, if I return. I don’t have the energy to struggle against him.
Was she thinking those thoughts for herself or was she sharing them with the deleff? Again, she didn’t know.
When her head began to throb with the effort of understanding, her hands dropped of their own accord and she stood there swaying, feeling utterly disoriented. The great head shook ponderously from side to side and a cloud of
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spicy breath enveloped her. The picture of herself in blue Healer’s robes seemed to pulse before her eyes again.
‘Why are you showing me these things?’ Frustration made her shout the words at it. ‘What was that building? And why was I wearing the robes of a Healer of the First Cadre? I never completed my training. I’m not entitled to blue robes.’
The giant deleff simply snorted at her, furled its ruff tightly round its neck and stepped back towards the edge of the pool. There it stood and waited while her two companions moved forward.
One of them nudged her away into the wildwoods. Like someone in a dream, she shouldered her pack and followed them. As she walked where they led, she could still feel waves of dizziness and disorientation twisting through her mind.
Behind them, the great deleff trumpeted shrilly, on and on, after which there was a loud splashing sound and the noise cut off abruptly.
Nothing seemed to make sense any more, she thought bleakly, nothing. There was only the need to put one foot in front of the other. And even for that she had to concentrate, for it seemed to take a very great effort.
For the rest of that day, whenever Karialla stopped, the two deleff showed their impatience to move on. It grew dark and she tried to find a place to rest, as she had every other night, but two heads framed in raised ruffs shook from side to side, and after a very short rest, the deleff nudged her back into motion – gently, they were always gentle, but implacably.
As they walked, three moons crossed the sky, shining down serenely upon whispering, rustling woods, patterning the ground beneath her feet with triple shadows.
The deleff stopped for a while to let her rest, but when her eyes started to close, one of them nudged her into action again. And because they’d saved her, because it seemed so important to them not to stop, she drew on her very last reserves of strength and stumbled on.
*
**
Early the following morning, just as dawn was breaking, and she was feeling sure she could go no further, the two deleff led her out of the wildwoods and on to a well-trodden road. After a few minutes’ walk along it, they stopped on a rise and stood staring down at a place Karialla immediately recognised.
Tenebrak!
Well, she thought, at least the great city had survived the wars. There it lay below her, in the wide shallow bowl formed by a semi-circle of low hills. Between her and the town, the river twisted and gleamed. The bridges that crossed it were still standing, too. The streets were lined by trees whose feathery tops waved above the houses and hid many of them from sight.
Rumour must have lied about the violence in Tenebrak, for the city looked much as it had done when she and Pavlin left, only perhaps it had spread out a little further.
Around it stretched the crop fields and groves, and up the slopes ran lines of fruit trees and berry vines. The mild climate and fertile soil made life easy for the Tenebrani, too easy, Pavlin had said, after that first year of carving a settlement out of the wildwoods had made their bodies lean and muscular. You needed a challenge to draw forth your best.
He’d been so sure of that, but she’d had more challenges than she wanted. Perhaps, after all, she might find the peace she craved in Tenebrak, now that she was here.
But even as Karialla stared down the slope, apprehension crept up her back on soft velvet feet. Down there lay so many memories. She’d been stupid even to think of coming back here.
‘No!’ she said loudly and firmly, turning to face the two deleff. ‘I told you I didn’t want to return and I meant it.’ She tried to turn her back on the Vale of Tenebrak, ready to start walking, but they stood barring her path, ruffs raised.
She tried next to walk into the undergrowth at the other side of the road but after a few paces, she found her way barred by a thorn grove. When the deleff crashed through the bushes to find her at bay there, they nudged her implacably back on to the road.
‘Please!’ she begged, ‘I can’t go back to Tenebrak. I just can’t.’ Great fat tears were rolling down her cheeks now and splashing on to her tunic.
The larger deleff, whom she had come to know as Eress—although how she knew its name she couldn’t say—blew spice-scented breath at her and she swayed dizzily, her protests fading into a low groan. The sunlight hurt her eyes, the gentle breeze roared in her ears and the smells of the woods filled her with such nausea she couldn’t bear the thought of going back into that hot, scented undergrowth.
The deleff waited a few moments longer then Hanar began to push back into the woods and Eress turned to follow him, pausing for a moment to nudge Karialla in the direction of Tenebrak. Panic filled her at the thought of being alone again, and sadness too. Strange they were, these creatures, so very strange, and yet they’d saved her from the raiders and she’d felt quite safe with them.
Not until the deleff were out of sight did she turn round to study the city. Some of Tenebrak’s scars were visible if
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you looked more carefully—burnt-out buildings, absence of traders’ wagons in the market place, no deleff grazing in the river meadow near the market place. Even this track was deeply rutted and in need of repair.
But when she tried to walk away she found she could only move towards Tenebrak. Something was compelling her to go there. She stopped again in the middle of the road, frozen for a moment in sheer panic, then her common sense re-asserted itself. She didn’t have to stay. If there was too much violence, she could always leave again. This compulsion the deleff had placed upon her wouldn’t last for ever.
It wouldn’t, surely?
As she walked down the hill she noticed people moving along the streets, people who showed no fear of attack, and her panic began to subside a little. Stalls were being set up in the market place, though there were only farmers’ wagons to be seen, no travelling traders with deleff. Some stalls had colourful displays of fruit and vegetables. Others had braziers with something grilling over the flames. Karialla’s stomach rumbled. Fruit and nuts might stay one’s hunger for a while, but she was longing for a bowl of hot meaty stew and a long cool drink of nerid’s milk.
She quickened her pace. Rumour must have lied about the violence here. And if it really was true that the fighting factions had disbanded, then Tenebrak did have a lot to offer her.
Why had she kept changing her mind like that? Perhaps it was the shock of being captured by the raiders. Perhaps the deleff had known that when they brought her here. Only—how could they have known? And why had they bothered to save her? She’d wondered about that as she walked, without finding an answer.
She stopped for a moment at the beginning of a long, broad avenue. At the far end she could see the busy main street, people, children, animals. She felt a surge of optimism. Now that she was here, she’d be stupid not to complete her training. It’d be just as dangerous to travel on again. In fact, she’d go to the Healers’ Courts first. They would feed her and welcome her, let her rest until her body had recovered.
Her steps felt lighter as she made her way in that direction and hope began to bloom in her, like a flower unfolding.
She moved to one side, put down her pack and took the time to comb her hair and brush the bits of foliage from her clothing. Then she picked up her things again and began to walk briskly forward, excitement bubbling up inside her.
Overlooking Tenebrak was a high ridge which drew her eyes. Her footsteps faltered. That’s where the building stood, she thought in surprise, the one the old deleff showed me. She stopped to stare at it, amazed at how clearly she could remember the building. She knew exactly where it had sat upon the ridge, exactly how its different sections fitted together. It’d be good to live up there, she thought wistfully, in touch with, but not encumbered by the bustling life of the town.
A shiver ran down her spine as the words, That’s where it will stand, slipped into her mind. And she knew with utter certainty that these weren’t her own thoughts.
When she met two people, they nodded and greeted her with warm smiles, but she didn’t stop to talk. There was only one place she wanted to go now. No more delays. She was ready to face it.
She hurried forward eagerly as she turned the corner that led to the Healers’ Courts, which lay just behind the main street. The Healers of the First Cadre would understand her pain, her need to be by herself until she could sort out her jumbled thoughts. They would give her refuge for a while and—
‘No! No! No!’ She stopped dead at the gateway.
Her own cries of anguish seemed to echo around her and she stood like one transfixed. As the realisation of what had happened sank in, she stumbled forward, but wherever she turned she saw nothing except rubble and destruction.
Falling to her knees she sobbed aloud, for this was a second bereavement, every bit as heart-breaking as the loss of Pavlin. Why had the deleff not warned her? Why had they shown her the Courts as they used to be, full of healers in blue robes?
Sobs strangled in her throat, pain made her huddle into a ball. Not a single wall of the Courts was intact, not a tree left standing in the grounds of the large domain. Other buildings in Tenebrak had been damaged, but this was total destruction. Someone had razed the Courts to the ground with a vicious thoroughness. The spring-fed pool was a marshy morass, its walls demolished. What had happened to Thera, to the other Mentors? Surely—surely they hadn’t been killed?
She lay there for a long time, alone in the ruins, sobbing until no tears were left. When she could cry no more, she got to her feet slowly and stiffly, gazing up at the ridge. Anger began to simmer in her. Who had dared to commit this senseless crime?
Behind the anger lay a feeling of growing awe and just the slightest whisper of hope. What if the deleff really had been able to show her the future? What if, one day, there was going to be a huge stone building on that ridge? What if that was where the new Healers’ Courts were to stand?
A world without healers was unthinkable. Someone would have to re-build the Healers’ Courts.
An echo of spice-scented breath seemed to swirl around her. She let out a deep shuddering sigh as she heard bells chiming out from the building on the ridge, the building that didn’t yet exist. It was as if a great head were nudging her
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arm.
‘Were you really showing me the future?’ she asked aloud. The nudging sensation came again and with it, the picture of herself in the soft blue of a healer’s robes. ‘If that’s true, how am I going to become a Healer of the First Cadre?
There’s no one left to train me.’
There will be.
The same voice echoed in her mind so clearly she looked over her shoulder, but there was no one near. Yet she hadn’t spoken or even thought those words. Someone else had. And the words had echoed strangely, as if they came to her from a great distance.
The ruined site was suddenly filled with the sound of wings, cries of rage and the trampling of feet. She heard screams of pain, shouts of triumph, mingled with the chiming of bells and the sonorous chanting of voices.
For a few flickering instants the past, the present and the future merged and whirled around Karialla. She saw a group of Discord crazed raiders tearing down the Healers’ Courts. She saw herself up on the ridge, helping to roll a great stone into place, the first stone of the new building. With bewildering rapidity, that scene blurred into one where she led a group of blue-clad men and women into a strange hypnotic dance, where the patterns they were making on the ground seemed to beat out pathways inside their brains.
Flames crackled around her.
Bells tolled on the breeze.
Music sang along her veins.