The Jasper Forest

by Julia Gray

  "They're on their way,' Olandis said, pointing.

  Everyone looked round to see Talker and Davi walking iown the path, hand in hand. The contrast between their first expeditions, when Talker had moved slowly and carefully, testing each cautious step, to their present almost carefree progress, was extraordinary. The two had been constant companions for several days now, and Talker obviously had complete faith in his young guide.

  They both shared Terrel's tiny room at night - Talker because he had nowhere else to go, and Davi because he wanted to stay with his charge.

  As usual, the two friends were talking as they strode along. Davi was the only one who could make any sense of what the blind man said, and it never seemed to bother him that Talker almost never responded directly to anything he said.

  It made for some very peculiar conversations, but somehow the partnership worked.

  'They're an odd couple, aren't they?' Aylen remarked.

  'Davi's always been a bright lad, and good with animals,' Ysatel commented thoughtfully, 'so it's no wonder he took to Terrel, but I wonder what he sees in Talker.'

  'Another healer?' Kerin suggested.

  'Talker's certainly the biggest pet Davi's ever had - so far,' Olandis said, grinning in spite of his stepmother's disapproving glance.

  'They're both remarkable,' Terrel stated seriously. 'I don't know which of them I admire the most.'

  The discussion was cut short then, because the strange pair were now within earshot. Greetings were exchanged as the newcomers took their places next to the fire, and then Ysatel began passing round the bowls. She had to move across and take Talker's hand in her own to guide him, and as she did so the ex-miner smiled.

  'Warm wings,' he commented.

  'Why thank you, kind sir,' she replied, smiling herself.

  'Swimming one, bubble-like.' He seemed very pleased about something. 'Echo dreams.'

  Ysatel glanced at Davi, hoping for some enlightenment, but the boy spread his hands to show that he didn't understand either. Terrel was the only one who noticed that Davi's face had coloured a little, and wondered if the child was embarrassed about something. However, he

  soon forgot about it as the meal progressed and the conversation moved on to other matters.

  The formal gathering gave the villagers their first opportunity to discuss exactly what had happened, and to plan for the future. It was obvious that the mudslide had been composed of vast amounts of material discarded from the mining operations above, but there were various theories as to why the slide should have happened when it did. The most commonly accepted argument was that several days of heavy rain had simply made the debris unstable, but not everyone was convinced that this was the whole story.

  'Yes, it's true,' Farazin admitted in answer to someone's question. 'Two moons were close to being full that day, but I doubt if that could have been responsible for the accident.'

  'When's the next such alignment?' Zolen asked.

  'Eleven or twelve days from now. The Amber and Red Moons will be full then, within a few hours of each other. We must be vigilant, as always. But an avalanche is not an earthquake. The moons only affect the land as a whole.

  They don't affect small parts of a single mountain.'

  'But if that small part had already been made vulnerable by the rains,' Zolen persisted, 'then isn't it possible that the moons' influence might have tipped the balance?'

  'I suppose so,' Farazin conceded.

  'You realize we have no means of getting any advance warning of a tremor now?'

  Lereth asked. The avalanche bad overwhelmed the wolf-fish pool, and the fish were either dead or had been swept away. Most people were aware of this, but it had seemed of little consequence compared to all the other problems they were facing.

  'We can catch more wolf-fish if we need to,' Kerin said. 'We'll just have to find a suitable pool for them.'

  Everyone knew Kerin's sons were the best fishermen in the village, and - even though capturing wolf-fish was a difficult task - no one doubted that they could do as their father suggested.

  'There's nowhere suitable at the moment,' Zolen said. He was one of the few prospectors who had been working in the river again, exploring its new contours. 'But it shouldn't be too difficult to construct a pool if need be.'

  'Why should we worry about the fish?' one of the younger men asked. 'We have Farazin's calculations to rely on, and if that fails, we have Terrel.'

  'I can only give you a few moments' warning,' Terrel said, still feeling uncomfortable with so many eyes upon him. 'The fish gave you much longer than that.'

  'And the phases of the moons are not an infallible guide to danger, as we've seen,' the sky-watcher added.

  'So we should replace the fish,' Kerin concluded.

  'Aren't we forgetting something?' one of the other elders asked. 'The mudslide wasn't the result of an earthquake. There was no warning this time, from any source. Who's to say there will be next time?'

  'We don't know if that's true,' Farazin objected. The lookout posted to watch the fish-pool had been one of those to die, so there was no way of knowing whether the creatures had reacted.

  'Why didn't you see it coming, Terrel?' Zolen asked.

  Taken aback by the faintly accusatory nature of the question, the boy could only shake his head, suddenly tongue-tied. But then Cutter - of all people -

  came to his rescue.

  'Leave the boy alone,' he growled. 'He's done more for this village in the last month than most of you'll do in a lifetime. Just be thankful for his talents, and accept that they have their own limitations.'

  His outburst shamed any doubters, and even though Terrel felt uncomfortable at being the centre of attention, he was both surprised and pleased that his former enemy had spoken up for him.

  'I can't believe you're all still talking as if the mudslide was an accident,'

  another young man declared suddenly. 'Isn't it obvious? The whole thing was deliberate, simply the most convenient way for the miners to dispose of their waste.'

  After this statement, the gathering fragmented into many separate arguments, and it was some time before Farazin was able to quieten things down again.

  'You've no proof of this, Cardos,' the sky-watcher said when he was finally able to make himself heard. 'I don't believe—'

  'You all heard what Yahn said!' the young man cut in. 'He'll drive us away if he wants to, and he's obviously found the perfect way to do it.'

  'If Yahn wanted to kill us, he could have done so long before now,' Kerin said.

  'Why risk a fight?' Cardos retorted. 'This way, he gets rid of his rubbish and flattens our homes at the same time. Two birds with one stone. If the slide had been a few paces further to the west, there might not have been anything left of Fenduca at all! If you really want warning of when it's going to happen again, we need someone up there.' He thrust out a finger, pointing towards the army camp.

  'Are you volunteering?' Cutter asked mildly.

  Cardos did not answer.

  'He could be right,' Zolen said. 'Some of the soldiers were laughing when they saw what had happened down here. But if it's true, I don't see what we can do about it.'

  There was some further argument then, but nothing was resolved, and when Cardos realized that most people either wouldn't or couldn't take his theory seriously, he fell silent. The discussion then moved on to the villagers'

  plans for the future, and the progress of their rebuilding work.

  'The east bank's hopeless while it's this wet,' Lereth reported. 'Maybe when it dries out over the summer it'll become solid enough, but until then we can't trust it. The mud's there to stay, and we're all going to be stuck over here.'

  'The river's only carrying away a fraction of the silt,' Zolen confirmed. 'We have to assume its course has been permanently altered.'

  That brought the discussion round to the possible resumption of normal prospecting. As Kerin had predicted, several people argued that the communal working that
had served them so well recently was redundant now, while others felt more time was needed before the usual free-for-all could begin again in the altered river-bed. No firm conclusions were reached, but before the gathering broke up Farazin promised that the elders would debate the matter further and let everyone have their decision as soon as possible.

  Two days later, everyone who wanted to returned to the river with their screens, and the struggle began in earnest once more.

  In the evening, Terrel joined Olandis and Aylen as they trudged wearily back to the hut. The brothers had had little luck, and were further dispirited to find no meal waiting for them when they got home. They were even more puzzled when their father and Ysatel emerged from the hut to greet them, hand in hand.

  Kerin rarely made affectionate gestures in public, but on this occasion he looked enormously happy.

  'What's going on?' Aylen asked.

  'Ysatel has something to tell you,' his father replied.

  As he looked at her, Terrel found that he knew what she was going to say even before she opened her mouth, and his heart gave a leap of joy.

  'I'm going to have a baby,' Ysatel said.

  Chapter Eighteen

  'Don't ever let him cook again, Ysy,' Aylen pleaded. 'I'd forgotten how bad he is.'

  The meal - although late and tasting rather unusual - had been one of their most enjoyable for a long time. Although Ysatel's news had come as an enormous surprise, Kerin's joy was so obvious that once the brothers had overcome their initial shock, they had been delighted by the prospect of a new addition to the family.

  'Don't worry,' Ysatel told her stepson. 'Your father will soon get fed up with making all this fuss, and then I'll take over again.'

  'It wasn't that bad,' Kerin protested.

  He had been insistent that Ysatel get some rest, and once she had realized he wasn't going to accept any of her arguments - that she was pregnant, not ill -

  she had simply let him get on with it.

  'Besides,' Kerin went on, 'nobody's allowed to complain about anything tonight. This is a time for

  celebration, isn't it, my love?' He put an arm around his wife, and she sank gratefully into his embrace.

  'I was too frightened to talk about it at first,' she told them quietly. 'I've known for a while, I think, but I didn't want to say anything until I was sure.'

  'And now you are,' Olandis said.

  'Yes.' Her smile held secrets the others could only guess at.

  'It's amazing,' Kerin said. 'After all this time. I'd just about given up hope.'

  'Me too. I used to put messages on our prayer-flags,' Ysatel told her husband.

  'I know.'

  'You weren't supposed to know,' she said, shamefaced.

  'But you stopped a long time ago,' Kerin commented quietly.

  'I'd given up. Anyway, we have something better now.'

  'What?' Olandis asked.

  'Terrel.'

  The young boy almost choked on the last of his soup, then met Ysatel's gaze.

  'I'm pregnant because you're here,' she told him.

  'You'd better not repeat that in the village,' Aylen remarked. 'You can imagine what the gossipmongers would say!'

  Ysatel picked up a wooden spoon and threw it at her stepson, but they were all laughing now — except Terrel, who was blushing furiously.

  'What do ... do you mean?' he stammered. 'I haven't done anything.'

  'You're a healer, Terrel,' she replied, 'and you were even before you knew it.

  There was something wrong with me - not with Kerin, or he couldn't have produced these two great lumps - and you must have helped put it right. And this is the result.' She patted her stomach.

  'But—' His denial caught in his throat. Could it really be a coincidence, another coincidence? He had been aware that she wanted very much to have Kerin's child; he had seen the way she looked at Jessett when the baby had been brought to him for healing, and he remembered the confession she'd made beside the fish-pool. Had he known of the problem subconsciously? And sought to solve it? The idea seemed incredible, but then so had many other things he had seen and done recently. His healing was all subconscious, in a way. And he had touched Ysatel many times - ironically most often during his early days in Fenduca, when she had been tending to him - so it was just possible that the contact had allowed his instincts to take over. Even so . . .

  'Don't worry,' Aylen advised Terrel, on seeing his worried look. 'Lots of women go mad when they're pregnant.'

  'You're speaking from experience, I presume?' Ysatel enquired mischievously.

  'If you are, my lad,' Kerin added, 'I want details.'

  'It's common knowledge,' Aylen laughed, refusing to let their teasing get the better of him.

  For a moment, Terrel's imagination took him back to the scene of his own birth, to his own mother, maddened by pain and shock . . .

  'You look as if you've just seen a ghost,' Olandis commented.

  'What's the matter, Terrel?' Ysatel asked quickly. 'I'm sorry, I haven't embarrassed you, have I?'

  'No,' he lied, wishing it were that simple. 'I'm fine.' He smiled as best he could.

  Although Ysatel did not seem convinced, the others took his answer at face value.

  'Well, I don't care about any of the whys and wherefores,' Kerin said, kissing his wife's hand. 'I'm just glad it happened.'

  'Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?' Olandis asked.

  'How's she supposed to know that?' Aylen said.

  'It's a girl.'

  They all looked at Ysatel in astonishment, and she burst out laughing again.

  'You look like a shoal of ironfish.'

  'How—' Kerin began.

  'Talker knows, doesn't he?' Terrel exclaimed.

  Ysatel stopped giggling and nodded.

  'Davi told me he saw the baby when he touched my hand at the meal a few nights back,' she said. 'He wasn't sure at the time - and I think the poor child was too embarrassed to say anything in front of everyone else — but I ran into them again today. Talker held my hand and said some more of his nonsense, but Davi knew what he meant.'

  'Just like the frog,' Terrel declared.

  'What are you talking about?' Olandis said, completely bewildered. 'What frog?'

  'It doesn't matter.'

  'Are you sure Davi's got it right?' Kerin asked anxiously. 'Talker never seems to make much sense to me.'

  'I trust them,' Ysatel told him. 'I was already pretty sure, but I hadn't said anything to anyone. So how could they know? What Davi said came out of the blue, but it just confirmed what I'd felt. And if Talker thinks it's going to be a girl, I'm not going to argue.'

  'Then neither will I, my love,' Kerin said, his eyes shining.

  The next day, the newly-established routines of the village were disrupted again, this time by an unexpected visitor. After the turmoil caused by the mudslide, most people had forgotten that a sharakan was supposed to be coming to Fenduca.

  Word that he was on his way reached the village some time before the man himself, and when he finally rode into the settlement in the late morning, most of the community was waiting to greet him. Many called out, asking the sharakan for blessings or thanking him for coming to their home, but he did not respond. He was wearing a long cloak, with a large hood that fell forward so that no one could see his face, and as he did not speak nobody could be sure whether their welcome met with his approval. The sharakan was accompanied by an acolyte - a young man who rode on a donkey behind his master. Because he was bare-headed, they could see his face - but he seemed indifferent and even rather bored as he nodded coolly to those they passed. He too remained silent.

  It was Farazin's duty to provide hospitality for the newcomers, and he had hurriedly thrown everyone out of his home so that the sharakan and his companion would have relatively spacious accommodations. But he had been caught unawares by their arrival, and there had barely been time to make the hut ready before the visitors brought their mounts to a halt in front of
his cabin.

  Farazin bowed as they dismounted.

  'My home is your home,' he said in formal greeting.

  The sharakan did not react, but simply swept past his host and entered the hut, leaving his acolyte to attend to details.

  'The Collector will rest after his journey,' the young man announced. 'He will require food in one hour. Once he has eaten, a full gathering of the village will take place here.'

  'Of course,' Farazin replied. 'I'll arrange it.'

  The acolyte nodded, taking this for granted.

  'In the meantime, I shall see to the stabling of our mounts. I trust you have a suitable place nearby.'

  After a moment's hesitation, Farazin suggested that one of the half-built huts

  - one that was not yet occupied - might be used, and on being led to it the acolyte decided that it 'would have to do'. After unsaddling and rubbing down the beasts - he evidently did not trust any of the villagers to do this for him — he returned to the elder's hut and joined his master to await their midday meal.

  The gathering that afternoon was unlike any Terrel had witnessed before. It was mostly a silent affair, with the villagers looking on as the acolyte instructed various individuals to come forward. Terrel had expected the sharakan to emerge without his cloak, and was looking forward to seeing the face of one of Macul's renowned mystics - but the man remained hooded so that his face

  could not be seen by any of the onlookers. And because he did not speak directly to any of the villagers, communicating instead only via his assistant, no one heard his voice either.

  'It has come to the attention of the Collector that there is one here who shows a talent for healing,' the acolyte stated, after various of the elders had paid their respects.

  'Actually there are two,' Farazin said.

  'Bring them forward.'

  Farazin beckoned to Terrel, then looked round to see where Talker was. As Terrel stepped into the circle of villagers, he began to feel rather nervous.

  He was not surprised that rumours concerning his exploits had spread beyond Fenduca - it was even possible that the soldiers had come to know of his gift and had reported it further afield - but he was not at all happy about being brought to the attention of the sharaken. He had asked Kerin why the visitor was called 'the Collector', but he had not known, and at the time Farazin had been too busy to bother with such questions. Now the title had taken on a faintly menacing air.