He voiced the question to his brother. "How did she do it?"
Gavi shook his head. "I don't know."
"Honestly, Gavi, it would take someone seasoned for a dozen years to do that kind of healing. She's been here two days!"
"True. I'm confused too. But," he said, and paused. Jabari braced himself for one of his brother's insights, knowing it would be right and knowing he didn't want it. "Why does it make you so angry, Yab?" He used his special name for Jabari, to soften the question. When Gavi had first come out of the sea, he had been too young to pronounce Jabari's name, and had called him Yabari, which he shortened to Yab. Jabari took a deep breath as the nickname worked its effect, reminding Jabari of who he was, a boy with a brother, a father and mother, a community. His brother went on.
"And you, Yab, of all people! Going on about rules like that? My ears nearly fell off my head, hearing you."
Jabari couldn't hold back a smile. He took another breath and Gavi slung an arm around his shoulders. Jabari smiled at his brother and whistled the chorus of the song Gavi had been whistling. Gavi sang a few snatches of it, and things were well between them again.
But why did Isika make him so angry? And why had he lectured her about rules like that? He, who was always in trouble with his parents for ignoring rules. All he knew was as he looked at the poison-landers, especially Isika, so unknowingly beautiful and pitifully thin, the need for rules became a clamor in his head. He finally understood his father. And that made him angry again, because he really didn't want to be like his killjoy father. He wanted to be himself; that was all he had ever wanted. He glanced at Gavi and found his brother watching him.
"You're not like him, you know," Gavi said, as though he was reading Jabari's mind, but he wouldn't have to, he knew Jabari so well. "Not that there's anything wrong with being him, I love him as much as you do, but you're nothing like him. You're you, Yab." Jabari nodded and stiffened his back. That had been the sting that had made him angrier than anything, how she had turned him into his father. How did she have that power over him?
"It's just that it's like she's playing. She doesn't know that we study this, that we have years of practice before we're trusted to come out here on our own. She could undo all of that! Right away! Who does she think she is?"
"I have a better question for you," Gavi said. He paused for a moment, looking up at the sky. "Forget who she thinks she is. Who is she?" He stopped, looking into the sky while Jabari stopped in his tracks as well, staring at his brother. Gavi, whose hair always stuck straight up from his head. Gavi, who, though he was as tall as Jabari, was slightly stockier and could always win in a wrestling match, though he didn't love wrestling as much as he loved eating. Who was she? That was the real question. He had been puzzling over it since they had met the tall girl who glowed from within.
"But I don't think we have time to answer it now," Gavi said. "Because we've got company and they're not going to be happy with us." The words were barely out of his mouth before he flinched and covered his face. Strong claws gripped Jabari's shoulders, and he yelped as he was plucked off the ground and swiftly lifted into the air.
Ben and Isika walked in the direction they had been traveling before the others left. The fields were gold on either side of them. Ibba trailed behind, casting hopeful glances behind her, still sniffling from time to time, through she wasn't crying anymore. Ben pushed down on his jungle of music, blocking some of the sounds, which were conflicting and confusing. Drums of doom beside hopeful tendrils. He glanced at Isika, wondering if she would know what the music was all about. He didn't know how to bring it up with her. Do you have anything like music living inside you, or threatening to burst out of people you know? He shook his head and kicked at a stone on the path.
Behind them, Ibba was calmer. She sang softly to herself as they walked along the path, fields stretching into the distance on either side. It sounded like a song Gavi had been teaching her, but she hummed her way through the sections she didn't know. The day still held its heat, and they paused occasionally to rest under the great trees.
"Thank you for what you said back there," Isika said to Ben during one of their rests.
He looked at her. "What he said was untrue. You've always been a great listener. You do talk a lot, though, and sometimes without knowing what you're talking about."
"Okay, okay, Benny, you don't have to ruin it," she said, laughing and taking a drink of water from her flask.
"But he said some true things, Isika. We're new here and we should respect their ways."
She scowled at him, wiping water off her chin with one hand. She shook her shoulders like she was shaking his words away, lifting her chin.
"He's a good person. You could trust him more, you know," he said.
"Wait. How do you know that? How can you tell after only two days?" She jumped up and changed the subject. "Let's keep walking. Come Ibba!"
Ibba ran to join them from where she had been watching a group of butterflies cluster around a flowering bush. They turned onto the road again. Ben walked quickly to keep up with Isika and thought about what he would say.
"I can just tell. I always can. I know it inside somehow." The song is beautiful and strong when Jabari speaks. "I've always known which vegetable stalls had owners who were more likely to lie about the weight of the tomatoes, or put a stone in with the wheat." I heard the horrible, terrifying drums when I went to those stalls. "I hated the temple always because I knew the goddesses were unjust." There, the sounds were so horrible and strong, drums and shrieks and even crying. "You can't know," and his voice broke a little, but he steadied it quickly, "how relieved I am to be away from the darkness in that temple."
Isika looked at him. "You do look better," she said. "You aren't so hunched anymore. It makes you look younger. In a good way," she said, when he frowned at her. "You used to look like an old man in a teenager's body. Now you look your age." He narrowed his eyes. "Or maybe a little older. Fourteen, maybe fifteen."
He laughed and swung lightly at her, but she darted away from him. He walked with his arms swinging, thinking of how he used to try to escape the voices in him by slipping from place to place, never letting them start up because he didn't stay anywhere long enough for them to settle.
"I wonder if your knowledge is a gift," Isika said, startling him. "Jabari told me about some of the gifts."
It frustrated Ben. He could have asked Jabari about the gifts if Isika hadn't sent him away.
"I did say too much, didn't I?" she asked him, her voice hesitant. "But he doesn't understand. I'm not just trying to play dress up. I keep feeling this call, and I'm trying to follow it, because if I ignore it, I feel sick. I'm only going from one thing to the next, and I'm not trying to make anyone angry. The call came really strongly before I pulled that wall down. I couldn't help myself."
"You've felt it at other times?" he asked. He was conscious of Ibba beside them now, listening intently.
"Not much in the village. Not so strong anyway. But since we came to this land, yes."
"From things other than walls?"
"Yes, from trees."
"Like the trees were talking to you?" Ibba asked, and Isika jumped.
"Whoa, I didn't see you there," she said. "How long have you been listening?"
"I listen to everything," she said. Ben looked at her. She reached her hand out and touched a stalk of grain beside her, and he smiled at how little she still was. But she listened to everything.
"Not talking to me," Isika said. "Calling me. Without words." Ibba looked up at her and then met Ben's eyes. She nodded, thinking it over, then raced ahead to look into a hole in a tree.
Ben thought over the idea that his madness could be a gift. What a gift, if all it ever did was confuse him and make him want to hide. But that wasn't all it had done, was it? Back there by the well it made him decide to protect Isika. But… "I wish I hadn't raised my staff," he said.
Isika nodded. "You probably didn't need to. But I was
proud of you, anyway. You're very different from the brother I grew up with." She looked back at the road behind them, then forward again. "So, do you know where we're going?"
"To the city?"
"But do we ever turn? Is it straight ahead on this road?"
They looked at each other with dismay. Isika sighed. "I wish I had held my temper," she said.
"Don't be hard on yourself. It wasn't just temper. He hurt you."
She gave him a grateful look and reached out to rub the top of his head. He shoved her away lightly and squeezed her shoulder, enjoying her company. It was easier to be with Isika when she wasn't overworked, and even days of walking seemed like little compared to the work at home. He frowned. Ibba had run so far ahead that she was a speck in the distance.
"Ibba!" he shouted. "Wait!" She didn't hear him. They walked faster to catch up.
It happened so quickly, they weren't sure at first what it was. As Ibba skipped along ahead of them, there was a sudden rush of air and an enormous snake launched itself from the grain field at their sister, coiling around her immediately, nearly obliterating her small body. Isika screamed and Ben took off running, sprinting with all his might, Isika just behind him.
CHAPTER 15
Sounds of danger shrieked inside him. The snake was gigantic, its body a deep red color and the width of Ibba's. Ibba clawed at it, her eyes wide with fear, but it only tightened around her, pinning one of her arms to her body.
"Isika!" she screamed. Ben reached her first and pulled at the heavy coils of the snake, beating it with his staff and scratching at its scales. Isika was right behind him, and at her touch, the snake froze for a moment, then continued its slow crushing of their sister. Isika was gasping and crying and Ben felt like throwing up, shaken by the deep evil he sensed. This wasn't an ordinary snake.
There was a sudden fluttering and the three Othra soared into sight and dropped to the ground in front of Ibba and the snake. Tears came to Ben's eyes when he saw them, but though they flapped their wings and pushed at the snake with their claws, it didn't release his sister. She was unconscious now, from lack of breath or fear, Ben didn't know which.
"Jabari and Gavi will be here soon," Efir said, her voice strained from the effort of beating at the snake with her wings, and sure enough, the grain swayed like the passage of another snake as the two older boys crashed through it. After a moment, Jabari and Gavi broke onto the road, their eyes widening in shock as they saw the snake.
"Gavi!" Jabari shouted, and Gavi leapt to Ibba's head, whispering to her while Jabari looked at the snake. "Stand back," he said to them, and they all obeyed, Ben weak with relief. He wondered what was taking Jabari so long until Jabari suddenly jumped at the snake and grabbed its head with both hands. The snake tried to bite him but he held its jaw tight, the muscles in his arms straining. He reached back swiftly and pulled an arrow out of his quiver, then, with one smooth arc, he plunged the arrow into the snake's eye. The snake jerked back as steaming black blood fountained out of it, covering Jabari. The snake collapsed and then, to Ben's shock, evaporated. Gavi sat on the ground beside Ibba and laid both hands on her head. He sang to her, something with words about the grass needing the sun to return and dry the dew off it, and as he sang, she smiled and he stroked the tendrils of hair that had escaped her braids, smoothing them off her face. He bent and kissed her forehead, then stood with her in his arms. She was tiny compared to him.
"She'll be fine," he said. "He injected a lot of fear into her, but he didn't stop her heart."
Just the words "stop her heart" made the earth wobble under Ben's feet. He reached for his sister and Gavi gently placed her in his arms. Ben closed his eyes and laid his forehead against hers. The heavy jarring drums inside him were silent and a single, sweet song curled around his ribcage. He breathed relief and joy. He too could sense that she would be fine.
He looked up. Isika stood next to him, arms wrapped around her stomach, staring at Ibba's face. He saw the streaks that tears had made on her face and he drew closer to her. She reached out and grasped onto Ibba's hand. A breeze whipped at his clothes, and he looked up to see the Othra moving closer, flapping their great wings and hovering just above their heads. They landed nearly on top of Ben and Isika, and Ben heard something new coming from them. It wasn't fearful or twisted, like the drums of doom, but it was strong and not entirely comfortable. Like a warning. He waited for them to speak, not sure that he wanted to know what they would say.
Nirral gazed at Benayeem and Isika took a step closer to him.
"In the great lands of Maween it is forbidden to raise a weapon to a friend," Nirral said, "and these are undoubtedly your friends, though they can be blind, even stupid at times."
Behind Nirral, Isika saw Jabari scowl, and she nearly giggled, shocked at the lightness of her heart.
"Jabari is still very young, and he does not see that you three are very important in the great story of our world. He cannot see far, for he has the gift of protection and he thinks only of protecting the land from impulsive people."
Isika felt heat come into her face at being described as impulsive at the same time that Jabari said, "I can hear you, you know. I'm standing right here." This time a giggle did escape her.
She quickly made her face serious when Efir began to speak in her melodic voice. It was more gentle than Nirral's voice, and made Isika feel a thousand times worse and better.
"Unlike these children, we see far and we can tell there is more than impulse drawing you, young one." She looked at Isika. "Your gifts are great. We have convinced Jabari to return to help you." She paused, and the air filled with warm humor. "It took a long time to convince him." The Othra were laughing and Gavi was pressing his lips together to keep from smiling. Jabari rolled his eyes. Isika was shocked to see that the Othra could laugh. Was nothing serious in this land? Even the wisest of creatures acted like children. She was accustomed to gloom. Her face ached from the unfamiliar amount of smiling she had done in the last two days.
"You will make peace," Nirral said. "And then you will continue on to find your brother."
There was silence. Ben spoke first.
"I'm sorry for raising my staff," he said, and heaved a great sigh. He looked down at Ibba, who still lay in his arms with her eyes closed. "Thank you with all my heart for saving my sister. We were angry, but we weren't ready to be alone."
Jabari looked up. "I forgive you. And I am sorry for saying unkind words." He turned and winked at Isika. "I came back because I can't have you tearing through this country," he said to her. "Breaking things down with no one to help you."
She bristled, then settled down as Efir opened her wings the slightest bit. It appeared that she wasn't going to get much more of an apology than that. But she knew she had been impulsive, no matter her reasons, and she nodded. When he reached out to grasp her hand with both of his, she frowned slightly—it was unfamiliar to her—but she followed suit and closed her hands around his as well. She felt a shock of connection when their hands met, and she pulled back and looked at Gavi rather than meet Jabari's eyes. Gavi held his hands out to Isika as Jabari moved on to Ben. Gavi's hands felt happily normal, with no spark, and Isika smiled at him. He did a little step dance and tugged on one of her braids.
"I'm glad we're all back together, like tea and sugar," he said.
"I'm glad too," Isika said in a loud whisper. "But don't tell him." She pointed at Jabari. Gavi grinned and at the sight of his smile, Isika's shoulders relaxed. Just then, she heard Ibba's soft voice.
"I'm thirsty," Ibba said, her eyes open, and Isika jumped to give her a drink of water. Ben set the little girl down on her feet and waited until she was steady before he pulled away.
"How do you feel?" Ben asked.
"I feel okay," she said, gazing at Jabari and Gavi with big eyes. She smiled and jumped up and down on her toes, before running to Jabari, who picked her up and swung her around. She was so small that she looked like she weighed nothing when he picked her up.
"Youcameback!" she said breathlessly when he put her down. She ran to throw her arms around Gavi's waist. "You came back!"
Jabari met Isika's eyes then, and smiled a small smile. He nodded at her, correctly interpreting what she was feeling. "Let's go find him," he said.
They walked until the sun had set and there was almost no light left, then put their mats beside a great tree in a field. Gavi laid out three meat pies, and Isika's mouth fell open.
"The woman at that last house gave them to me this morning," he said. "She told me to save them for dinner. They might be a little banged up, but seekers can't be choosers." He pressed at one of the pies to make it round again, but it broke apart and he grimaced. "Er, guess that one's ours, Yab," he said.
"I'll share with you," Ibba said. "I don't eat much."
"And I eat a lot," Gavi said. "So that makes us a perfect pair."
Jabari, Ben, and Isika shared the remaining two pies, each of them taking bites until there was nothing left but crumbs. Isika sighed with contentment, then remembered something. She narrowed her eyes at Jabari. "Did he just call you Yab?" she asked.
Jabari flinched. "Yes. It's a sort of nickname."
"Does everyone call you Yab?" she asked.
"No," he said, shooting Gavi a warning look as Gavi laughed quietly to himself. "Only Gavi. Because he's annoying."
"You love me," Gavi said, and winked at Ibba. She smiled up at him and the happiness in her face was almost more than Isika could bear. There were too many things warring in Isika; happiness, contentment, worry, fear. Her eyes brightened when Gavi pulled out of flask of tea, though. She pushed worry down. They would find Kital and he would not believe himself abandoned for long.
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