by Shannah Jay
‘The same two deleff saved me as well, last year. I still don’t understand why or how they knew I needed help, but suddenly there they were.’
‘Don’t underestimate deleff, lass. They’re as intelligent as we are, in their own way. They’re a much older species, I reckon, one native to this world, which ours isn’t.’
She stared at him. ‘Are you sure of that? I’ve always wondered if the tales of the Forebears were just that - tales.’
He gave a ghost of a chuckle. ‘I’m as sure the Forebears really existed and that they came from other worlds as I am of my own name - though I’m not sure of much else where deleff are concerned.’ He looked down the hill and changed the subject. ‘Tenebrak! Never thought I’d see this place again.’
‘You’ve been here before?’
‘Lived here for a while, but that was a long time ago. I had itchy feet when I was younger and didn’t stay anywhere for more than a year or two. Travelled all over the settled areas, I did, before Discord set in, and went to some of the unsettled regions, too. Fascinating, it is, exploring. Such sights I’ve seen! I warn you now, lass, if you give me any encouragement, I’ll bore you to death with my tales.’
She warmed to him at once and smiled. ‘I should like to hear them. Go on. What happened to you after the wars started?’
‘Well, it grew harder to travel around, so I lived in one of the new settlements for a time. But my skills weren’t needed very often in such a small place, so in the end I moved on again.’ He shook his head and his expression reflected deep sadness. ‘Discord was everywhere I went. Everywhere.’
They were both silent, reliving their own memories.
‘Mass insanity!’ he said at last. ‘I couldn’t bear it, so I went away to live on my own by the eastern sea.’
Karialla stared at him. ‘There really is a sea?’ This was another tale from the old times, of a great expanse of water called a sea, so large it reached the horizon and for all anyone knew, stretched far beyond it, too.
He nodded. ‘Yes. But the sea lies so far to the east that new settlements haven’t spread there yet. I stayed for a while but when I got tired of my own company I came back again. I thought Discord might be dying down by now.’
‘It is, but not quickly enough.’
‘No. And it’s left terrible scars. Anyway, when I fell ill, I was too weak to care for myself properly. I’ve never seen anything quite like this illness before, one of those wildwoods fevers no one can explain, I suppose.’
‘My parents died of redrot fever when I was nine,’ she said softly.
He patted her arm. ‘That must have been hard for you. It’s the worst fever of them all, redrot. But the plants don’t grow everywhere, thank goodness.’
‘Are you sure of that?’
‘Pretty sure. I’ve only ever seen them in one part of the north.’
He looked into the distance and went on, ‘When I nearly died, it made me realise that it was time for me to settle down and live quietly for a time. I’ve got some useful skills to share and I should start doing that now.’
‘What are they?’ Karialla held her breath as she waited for his answer. Something told her that he was the solution to one part of her problem. She didn’t understand why, but she felt it very strongly, and hope was welling up inside her, bright and glorious, even before he spoke.
He smiled at her. ‘I’m a healer. First Cadre, too, though you wouldn’t think it to look at me now. And by your dress,
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you’re Second Cadre.’
Tears of joy filled her eyes. He was skeletally thin, not very clean and his clothes were mere rags, but to her he was the most beautiful sight she’d seen during the long year since Pavlin had died. ‘You’re greatly needed here,’ she said, her voice thick with emotion, ‘and I’d be happy to share my home with you, for you’re right - I am a healer, too.’
‘That’s kind of you.’ He frowned. ‘But what happened to the Healers’ Courts? Aren’t you living there? And why should I be so greatly needed? There used to be a whole nest of healers in Tenebrak.’
She bowed her head, not wanting to see his pain as she told him how the Courts had been destroyed.
She heard him draw in a harsh breath and it was a moment or two before he spoke again.
‘We call it discord madness, but that doesn’t explain why it happens. I’ve sometimes wondered if it spreads from one person to another like an infection.’
‘Not all people suffer from it.’
‘Not all suffer from an illness, either, even though it may touch the people they live with.’ After a pause, he asked in a tone of anguish, ‘The Courts were totally destroyed?’
‘Yes.’
He looked at her pleadingly. ‘Surely they didn’t kill all the healers?’
‘We fear so.’ To her, that was the biggest disaster of the wars.
Eventually he pulled himself together and patted her hand. ‘How did you escape, then?’
‘I wasn’t in Tenebrak at the time. I came here from the north last year when my own settlement was destroyed by raiders. I’d thought to train for First Cadre.’
‘Poor lass. Did you lose many of your family?’
‘There was only my husband. He was killed with the others.’ She was never comfortable with someone’s pity, so changed the subject quickly. ‘I’ve survived. And so has Tenebrak. The town is starting to move out of the shadow of violence at last, but we have sore need of proper healers here. I’m only Second Cadre and I’ve been run off my feet!
There are so many things I can’t or daren’t do!’
Tears of relief slid down her face, taking her by surprise, and when he hugged her gently, she hugged him back and found herself sobbing on his shoulder. She hadn’t realised what a strain it had all been until now.
His voice was gentle in her ear. ‘That must have been a heavy responsibility for you to bear, lass.’
He let her sob for a minute or two, then said briskly, ‘Well, I can think of nothing I’d like better than to use my skills as a healer again. Once I’m well - and I will get well now - I can become your Mentor, if you like. I’ll be able to guide you through the necessary Skills, and add a few more that I’ve picked up on my travels.’
‘That’ll be wonderful, quite wonderful!’ Then she realised how exhausted he was looking and clicked her tongue in annoyance at herself. ‘Here I am, talking about my own selfish concerns when you need help. Will you come and share my home, then, my friend? Goodness, I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Karialla.’
‘I’m Deverith. And I’d be honoured to share your home, lass.’
She wondered how old he was. It was hard to tell. He had a noble face, lean and intelligent, the face of a leader. His hair was completely silver, but he didn’t seem old, just weakened by illness. And his grey-blue eyes were so bright with life they fairly sparkled. To her surprise she felt a stir in her blood at his touch. She hadn’t reacted to another man like that since she met Pavlin. She tried to push this awareness of Deverith as a man aside, but it stayed there, humming inside her, as they slowly made their way into town.
She avoided meeting his eyes, hoping he hadn’t noticed her reaction to him and he seemed to need all his energy just to walk.
Pain crossed his face when he saw the damage everywhere and, as she had, he wept openly at the sight of the destruction at the old Healers’ Courts, which they had to pass on the way to her house. She couldn’t help taking him in her arms and letting him weep against her.
‘Why?’ he asked in a croaky whisper as the tears dried on his face. ‘Why would anyone destroy a centre of healing and learning?’
‘Apparently the local faction leader hated healers because they didn’t manage to save the life of his favourite woman.’
‘Didn’t any healer escape? Surely he didn’t manage to kill them all.’
‘No one knows. If they did survive, they must have fled, and you can’t blame them for staying away.�
� Then her face brightened. ‘But I’ve found that some of the rear cellars weren’t destroyed, so perhaps some of the healers hid there until the fighting was over. I like to think so, anyway.’
She decided he might as well have the whole story. ‘Apparently, Farran even killed any healer who happened to pass through Tenebrak afterwards. I’m the first healer they’ve had here for a long time. I was lucky. Farran was dead by the time I arrived.’
He bowed his head. ‘So it’s all to do again. How many times do we have to build up our world from nothing?’
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It seemed a strange comment to make, but perhaps he was too tired to think clearly. She didn’t pick him up on it. It was more important to get him home and help him recover. ‘This is it,’ she said as they stopped in front of her house.
‘It’ll do for the time being. But if other healers come back, we’ll need somewhere larger. We’re going to have to take on apprentices, you know.’
As she settled him in her own bed after feeding him a light nourishing meal, he clasped her hand in his for a moment, sending warmth flooding through her body again.
‘You look like you need a rest yourself, lass.’
She nodded. ‘I had a tricky birthing last night. It took all night. I’ll be fine when I’ve had some sleep.’
‘Baby all right?’
‘Both of them. Twin girls.’
He gave a rusty chuckle. ‘That’s what we need now, children to fill the land with new, untainted life. I’m sorry to take your bed, Karialla, and you so tired. Give me the use of it tonight and a few days’ rest, then I’ll start easing your load and earning my keep, I promise you.’
‘I’m sure you will, Deverith.’
His was a very strange name, she thought as she looked at him. Old-fashioned in sound. She’d never heard of anyone called Deverith, though she had a feeling she’d seen the name somewhere. In her mother’s book of poetry, perhaps. Her own name was rather old-fashioned, too. ‘You’re more than welcome to use the bed. I’m so happy that you’re here, Deverith! I’ve been so alone.’
‘You won’t be alone again, I promise you.’
His words seemed to echo around the room and she blinked in surprise. It must be the tiredness making her feel distant. ‘What luck that I was passing by when the deleff brought you out of the forest!’
He gave a ghost of a chuckle. ‘You can call it luck if you like, lass, but I think it was meant to be, our meeting like this - definitely meant to be. I told you the deleff aren’t stupid. And there’s something else.’ He fumbled in his pack, which lay next to the bed, and brought out a piece of carved wood, holding it up for her to see.
She gasped, for it was her face and a good likeness, too. How could that possibly be? He’d never met her before.
‘I carved that a while ago while I was camping by a lake. I’m not a good carver, but this one is my best work. I’ve carried it with me ever since. So you see, you and I were meant to meet.’
He held her gaze for a moment or two longer, then his eyelids closed and his breathing deepened into the sleep he needed so desperately.
She stood for a moment, looking down at him, this healer who had come to her out of nowhere to make the impossible happen. His face was lined and pale, but the bones were still elegant beneath the thin tightly-drawn skin.
How old was he? It was hard to tell.
A puzzle in many ways, Deverith.
‘Sleep well,’ she said softly as she went to make up a bed for herself on the floor of the next room.
That night, in spite of her hard couch, she slept better than she had since her arrival in Tenebrak. It was so very good not to be alone. It was probably relief which was making her react so strangely to him. Yes, it must be.
***
It surprised Karialla how quickly Deverith recovered once he had proper food to eat and adequate rest.
They immediately began to make plans to reorganise the house, using the rooms on the second floor as bedrooms.
They both moved up there and with the help of Harrin, turned her old room on the ground floor into a larger stillroom with enough bench space for the two of them to work side by side.
Within a week Deverith looked twenty years younger; within two weeks he seemed ageless, as if he’d reached the middle years then stopped ageing. There was something about him that drew all eyes as they walked along the street together. She could see people stop to stare openly at his blue tunic, because word soon spread that a healer of the First Cadre had arrived.
And though people were slightly in awe of him, they weren’t afraid of him, just treated him like someone very special. He had the ability to talk to anyone and make them feel at ease. Children in particular clustered around him whenever they could.
Karialla soon felt as if she’d known Deverith for many years, and the only thing that puzzled her was why no one in the town seemed to recognise him or remember him in any way. She mentioned this once.
He shrugged. ‘Oh, I was nothing special. Just one of many students. And I didn’t stay long after I’d reached First Cadre.’
She frowned. It had been usual for Healers of the First Cadre to spend several years in the Courts after Recognition that their skills were adequate, in order to continue learning from their more experienced colleagues. And Deverith had once said he’d been a Mentor in the Courts, many years ago. How could that be? It was all very puzzling, but she didn’t like to question him, because there was no doubt he was a skilled healer, perhaps the most skilled she’d ever worked
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with.
Pushing the worry to the back of her mind, she concentrated on her own needs. Becoming a healer was to enter an endless cycle of learning, because you could never know everything. That was stressed at all times in the training. She’d been hungry to learn ever since she returned to Tenebrak and now Deverith was giving her that opportunity.
But still she remained aware of him as a man as well as a Mentor, to her embarrassment. It was probably because she and Pavlin had been happy together and her body missed that physical closeness. She hoped she’d hidden her feelings.
***
Once Deverith was fully recovered, he again broached the idea of them taking on two apprentices.
‘Are we equipped to train them yet?’ she worried. ‘We’re lacking so much that I took for granted as a student.’
‘Of course we’re equipped!’ He tapped his forehead. ‘Equipped here, which is what matters most. And you do have a few books. The one Thera gave you will be especially useful for you. It was always the best beginners’ manual for those entering First Cadre.’
She didn’t comment on the fact that for her much of the manual was still too advanced.
When they spread the word that they were looking for apprentices, they were inundated with requests from parents anxious to set their younger children up with a way of earning a good living. Healers never seemed to care about making money, but they never went hungry, either.
Deverith insisted he must choose the apprentices himself. ‘It’s part of First Cadre Skills, the choosing is, lass,’ he assured Karialla. ‘Not everybody’s suitable to become a healer, as you well know. The gift is inborn.’
‘I agree. But will you tell me how you decide who to train out of so many?’
He gave one of his graceful shrugs. ‘You can sense the ability to heal once you know what to look for. I’ll teach you how to do it once you’ve reached First Cadre yourself, not until then.’ Beyond that, he wouldn’t be drawn.
He took his time choosing the apprentices, interviewing every applicant personally, sitting and talking to them all for at least an hour. Then he would stand near the window and lay his hands on their shoulders, gazing deeply into their eyes, and they would stare back at him as if mesmerised.
In the end, he chose Heth, second son of a wood carver who had just moved into Crafters’ Row, and Ferilla, youngest daughter of a farmer who wasn’t quite sur
e whether he liked his daughter taking up such a trade. Ferilla and her mother had had to fight her father’s prejudices before she could even submit herself for assessment, but the girl was desperate to become a healer. She reminded Karialla very much of herself at the same age, so ardent was she to learn.
When they refused the others, Deverith mentioned to one or two of the disappointed parents that if they presented their children the following year, they would stand a good chance of being chosen. ‘Or sooner, if other healers come to join us.’
‘We must train as many as we can in the next few years,’ he told Karialla. ‘Our knowledge and skills mustn’t die with us.’
Heth and Ferilla moved in immediately to start their training and the two young people brought a lightness of spirit into the house which both healers enjoyed.
Indeed, there was a lightness of spirit creeping into the town, as well. New buildings were rising everywhere and old ones being refurbished. And Ruslith reported excellent sales of his small silver pieces for wedding gifts.
CHAPTER 12 Hope Reborn
There were a few minor outbreaks of thieving in Tenebrak just after Heth and Ferilla moved into the healers’ house, but the thefts weren’t serious and were attributed to passing vagabonds. There was nothing to indicate that Gerrell and his bullies were still around. There’d been no injury to people during these thefts, and that in itself was a wonder after the years of killing. So everyone remained fairly certain that Discord had died away now. But just in case, they still maintained a watch at night. Evril had been the one to insist on that, but he told Karialla that Rojan disagreed and had complained bitterly of the need for people to lose their sleep for nothing.
‘Rojan,’ Evril said thoughtfully, ‘is getting above himself lately. I can’t stand the fellow. He’s always pushing for people to go to that meeting house of his. He grinned at Karialla. ‘Don’t tell Loral I said this, because she loves to go there, but I’m not too fond of attending, especially when Rojan runs the meetings. He goes on for too long when he stands up in the Circle, telling people what to do and what not to do. I’m an Elder and can decide that sort of thing for myself, thank you very much.’