Eventually the desert gave way to lush green grass with a row of trees in the distance. Delminor picked up his pace, his excitement propelling him onward. Yet when he reached the edge of the forest, he was forbidden from entering.
“Turn back, mage,” said a warrior clad in rich green leathers. Against his dark skin, he looked like a tree himself. “You are not tolerated here. Find another path for your travels.”
“You don’t know my intentions.”
“It matters not. You are forbidden to enter.”
Incensed, Delminor bent to the ground and scooped up a handful of dirt. “Fabronie gravila martel breq!” A vortex took the soil and spun it around him, where it condensed invisibly in what Donya had dubbed the Shield of Delminor.
“A mere denial and you respond as such. You must come from the castle. It’s your arrogance that denies your entry. We will not be violated again.”
“You will let me enter.” He rushed forward with his sword.
The warrior defended the attack easily, twisting around and smacking Delminor on the back with his hand. The Shield of Delminor did its work and the man’s hand grew too heavy to lift, pulling him to the ground. The spell Pyron had used during his Trial had been a key addition to Delminor’s vortex shield.
“What is this?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Delminor said. “But I won’t be stopped from my quest, either.”
The warrior used his free hand to bring his sword around. Delminor dodged the blow and grabbed the man’s hand, effecting the shield upon him.
“Release me!”
“Guide me.”
The warrior struggled against the spell but couldn’t break its hold. He swung a leg out and knocked Delminor down, but this too weighted his foot and pinned him further, his body now contorted oddly. “I beg you.”
Delminor shook his head, knowing his spell wouldn’t last much longer. “I ask a simple favor. Let me pass. Or guide me if you don’t want me wandering around your forest. But you keep trying to harm me. Why should I release you?”
“You can’t leave me like this.”
“I can.” He tugged his pack into place and stepped away.
“All right! I will take you to Astrith. He will better know how to assist you.”
It was the best offer he would get. Delminor bent to the ground and took up some dirt, casting nonsense words and sprinkling the dirt over the warrior. He felt the shield’s spell fading so he closed his eyes and pretended he was releasing its energy. He hoped the warrior didn’t recognize the trick.
True to his word, the warrior led Delminor into the forest, taking paths the mage would never have found on his own. As he looked around, he could see the remnants of battle and fire, presumably from the king’s search party.
The warrior kept a fair distance ahead, as if fearing what other spells may be cast upon him; his time tethered to the ground had shaken his resolve.
After an hour or so of winding through the forest, the trees opened to a clearing that made Delminor’s jaw drop. The trees were high and held houses of wood, made of the natural growth of limbs intertwining together. He had never seen trees link with such precision and then he realized it had to have been achieved with the help of the nature jade.
He was in the right place.
The warrior led Delminor to one of the huts. “It is customary that you clean yourself of the road before meeting the elder. Leave all your belongings here and follow me.”
“I’ll be defenseless, and you can easily take my things.”
“I assure you, that is not our way.” The man disrobed completely, waited for Delminor to do the same, then guided the mage to a nearby pond where the fresh water revitalized him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so clean.”
“The water is purified at many intervals until it reaches this place. It’s here we leave our woes behind and free our burdens.” He looked curiously at Delminor. “Have you no such facilities where you’re from?”
“Nothing as refreshing as this,” he admitted. “I should see if Donya can recreate a similar effect.”
“Without the vast connection to nature, it’s doubtful. Come. Astrith awaits.”
They returned to the hut where Delminor’s clothes hung on a peg, having been cleansed by someone else. He donned his outfit, checking the pockets, relieved all three jades were still there.
The warrior guided him to the center of the clearing and then methodically strode forth, his head sinking lower in deference with every step. He reached a large tree stump and lowered to one knee. Delminor awkwardly followed suit.
Soon after, a troupe of dancers wandered in, unclothed as the trees around them, their skin the color of bark with the smoothness of the softest leaves. The men and women circled the two supplicants and leaped and twirled about. It looked to Delminor as if the trees themselves were dancing in a strong breeze.
Amidst the dance, an elderly man walked in, his body covered in a robe of woven vines. He solemnly stepped toward the tree stump and sat down, folding his legs under himself. The dancers finished their routine and then fanned out behind Astrith in a semicircle.
“Nature is a balance,” the old man said. “It is a power that lives and breathes. A world of wonder for those who look acutely into its purpose. Is that why you have come? To gaze at wonder?”
This man was different than anyone Delminor had ever met. Xervius of the Magitorium had been quirky and fearful of his colleagues. Tyral of Magehaven had been confident and strong. Even the king was an immutable force that barely budged once his decisions were made. Yet here, this man was calm, but more knowledgeable than all the others combined. Delminor could sense the wisdom within him.
“That’s not my purpose, per se.” There was no reason to hide, he knew. He withdrew the jades. “I come in search of knowledge, yes. I would like to commune with and utilize the nature jade, companion to these others.”
“Your candor is appreciated.” Astrith leaned his head to each side, stretching his neck. His tone tightened. “The nature jade does not leave this forest. It has been here for time immemorial. All who seek its knowledge visit here and remain until they gather what information they require.”
“I understand, but I need its power for another purpose. And to do that, I must take it with me.”
Astrith closed his eyes slowly. “You have a strong determination and will not rest until you have what you seek. This troubles me.”
Delminor’s head lowered. “The nature jade is helpful for preparing tinctures and we can use those to heal others. And clearly,” he said, gesturing grandly around him, “its power is much greater than any mage has imagined. But I seek the ability to heal.”
Astrith’s tone darkened further. “Then you are not associated with those who came so recently? With those who attacked the forest and slew our family, our friends? Those who brought fire to the wood and destruction to our home? Those who slew the beasts that roam freely and unperturbed beneath the boughs?”
Delminor swallowed hard. Astrith already knew the truth of it, he could tell. “They came in my name for the nature jade. They were not meant to harm anyone, just seek the shard.”
“And you were not satisfied with their findings?”
Delminor’s confusion was obvious. “They lost some of their men but came away without the jade. It’s why I’m here now.”
Astrith stared intently at Delminor’s face and resolved some conflict within. “Then you are unaware that they did indeed obtain a shard, but not the nature jade. We had two fragments of the Red Jade in our possession.”
“What!” His heart thudded in his chest. He tried several times to form words. “There is another shard? I was right!” He looked around absently, digesting the information. “How many more are there?”
“My concern is only with the nature and beast jades.”
“Beast jade?” he echoed.
“It allows us to enjoy harmony with the creatures of the forest.”
<
br /> He sobered. “It must be in the king’s possession. Why wasn’t I told?” His eyes darted back and forth, trying to understand.
“Perhaps they did not find you worthy.”
Delminor buried his face in his hands. “I knew there were other shards. There had to be. But it makes no sense he would hide it from me. He needs me to understand the power of the jades. For our protection.”
Astrith gestured to the forest around him. “All jades have the power you see before you. They are connected to the world in a mysterious way and only through balance can you achieve the bounty of this forest.”
Delminor focused on the words and held aloft the earth jade. “You speak of balance. The power of earth can be used to drag down a foe’s body, to bury him, to split or overturn the earth itself. But I’ve also discovered a way to reverse its effects, to use its power to affect the air instead. There is a give and take and I have felt it.”
“It is a rare mage who can make such a claim.” Astrith opened his eyes. “Tell me about this ability to heal.”
Delminor explained the natural healing process of the body, as well as the loss of his unborn son. “I only desire to find a means to heal the body in a way the nature jade cannot.”
“Could it not be possible that the death of your child was nature’s doing in itself? That perhaps there was a reason for it?”
Delminor’s face went stiff. “Don’t try to convince me of that. Don’t tell me there was a purpose to our suffering.”
Astrith’s tone saddened. “Suffering is part of balance. My wife and daughter were lost in the fires, yet I know there is a greater design to their passing, and I trust in balance to show me.” He paused and closed his eyes, his face a mask of pain. “Your suffering propelled you on a quest to seek a power that you have not seen manifested in the land. Perhaps that was the purpose. Perhaps the jades themselves are guiding you.”
He looked at the three jades in his hands. “They wouldn’t do that to me. They didn’t have to. They could have guided me some other way.” He paused for a moment, the man’s words hitting him fully. “You said I have ‘not seen manifested’… Are you telling me that such magic does exist?”
“Of course it does, as do others.”
He considered the stubbornness of casting earth spells when holding the air jade, as well as the difficulty in utilizing sand with earth magic. “Power over sand, too,” he said. “Of light as well? Or is that an aspect of fire?”
“These are thoughtful guesses.” Astrith nodded his head slowly. “The power of nature and our connection to it within this forest allow us to feel the forces and energies through the land. We sense magic from the far reaches of Kallisor to the southern lands of Ulloria. There are other magics, as you suspect.”
Chills ran down Delminor’s spine. “How can I uncover them? What do I do?”
“I cannot help you with that. Nor do I think you need my help, considering how far you have already come.”
Delminor lowered his head. “I need the nature jade to help me find the others that are out there. Right now, the ones I have keep directing me here. With the nature jade in my possession, working together, these jades will be able to find another. I know it. There can be no other way.”
“Balance.”
“There is another way? I don’t understand.”
Astrith said no more but waved his hand absently in the air. The dancers surrounding him stepped forward and ushered Delminor to rise. They guided him to one of the huts and suggested he sleep. He laid himself on the leafy bed, but his mind would not allow him any rest.
Chapter 30
Leaves
The night air was crisp and refreshing and Delminor found himself breathing deeply and trying to calm his mind. He needed the nature jade, but Astrith had hinted at another way to uncover magic energies in the land. A way that involved balance. But Delminor couldn’t figure it out. He tossed and turned and eventually rose from the bed, deciding to wander the village.
Most of the people were asleep in their huts and the entire place was calm. Only Delminor’s nervous energy disturbed the night.
No one interfered with him as he roamed around; rather, the nighttime stragglers nodded to him or continued their own private meditations. He sat on the ground and pulled out the three jades from his pockets, feeling them pulsating with the proximity of the nature jade.
Delminor shifted the jades around into different configurations, feeling the changes in vibrational energy as he did so. Earth and water pulsed with a similar cadence, but the air jade conflicted with each of them. He wondered idly if the fire and air jades would share a similar rhythm, and he surmised that they would. Yet where would the nature jade fit into the pattern?
Thinking of the work Essalia was capable of, Delminor assumed the nature jade would share an energy pattern similar to earth and water, two forces needed to sustain nature.
He shifted the jades around again, this time setting air across from earth and setting the water jade off to the side. He marked where the fire jade would be, across from the water jade. The four elements formed the cardinal points of a compass, but they didn’t remain there for long.
Delminor shifted the shards around to fit a place for the nature jade. Five jades in a pentagon. But it was unbalanced. He considered a healing jade, but figured it would be near nature, earth, and water. He rearranged the pattern into a hexagon.
“Balance,” Delminor said, echoing Astrith’s cryptic advice. Then he shook his head. “That’s not possible.” But he tested it anyway.
With earth, nature, healing, and water so close in composition, if his assumptions were correct—and he assumed they were—then they should all be near each other on one side of a circle. Across from earth was air, and across from water, he marked a place for fire. He wondered if healing and nature would be opposite each other, completing the balance, but it didn’t make sense to him.
He wondered what would be the furthest thing from nature; what could possibly counteract its energy? Inspiration wasn’t with him, but he considered that the nature jade itself might clue him in. If the nature jade dealt with life, then maybe the opposing force was death. He shuddered at the thought of a death jade.
But as he looked at the circle he had drawn, he knew in his heart that there wasn’t one more jade to find. There were several, including the beast jade Astrith had said the king’s men took with them. His quest would extend further than he had expected. He couldn’t afford any more delays.
He lined his three jades up again, reading their energies and setting them into a pattern with the greatest resonance. Because he now suspected that earth, water, and nature would have similar energy patterns, he used their vibrations as the focus. He aligned them and turned himself to face where he believed the nature jade to be.
He walked back to his hut to reclaim his belongings and then followed the path denoted by the jades. Still no one stopped him as he continued, and it made him more nervous. They knew he had come for the jade. Why wouldn’t they be watching him?
Perhaps Astrith had trusted that Delminor wouldn’t do something rash. But he knew he had to act. His heart ached with the decision, but he pushed himself onward.
He soon came to a small copse just outside the village. A dim green glow emanated from the knot of a tree. He stepped over to it, feeling the jades rattling. He took the nature jade and shoved it in his pocket. Then he turned away.
The night went still, no chitter of crickets or rustling of leaves. It felt as if time had stopped. He took a step, the ground echoing loudly as his foot crunched down. His heartbeat thundered in his chest. He knew it was wrong, but his quest—his destiny—lie down the path of the jades. He took a deep breath and then he ran.
Out of the copse, he turned to the right, away from the village. Tree roots were hard to see and he kicked many of them as he went. There was no obvious path for him to follow and it was all he could do to keep from falling. An angry wind swept through the trees, chasing him
as the leaves waved and called out his location.
One tree then another passed by and he kept pushing himself forward, running into the night, no idea where he was headed. He became winded quickly and found a place he could hide.
Delminor used the moment to slice his finger and connect himself to the nature jade. He felt the rush of energy within him as well as the expanse of the entire forest. It was too much to take in all at once and he felt a strong pressure shoving him into the ground.
He dragged himself forward on his knees, climbing over roots and shrubs, the leaves overhead still wavering angrily.
There was no telling how large the forest was with the pounding in his mind. The nature jade was fighting him, not wanting to be taken from its home. But he needed it.
Yard by yard, then inch by inch, Delminor kept moving, unable to think clearly. Was he doing the right thing? Did he have the right to take this shard?
Right or wrong, his mission was to find a healing jade so he could protect Donya and their child on the way. No, he needed it more than this forest did. The forest could sustain itself without the jade for a while. Even, at worst, if it was for the rest of his life, what was that time when compared to a tree’s lifespan?
But it wouldn’t be that long. He would find what he needed and return the jade. He promised he would. The forest wouldn’t be without it forever. He only wanted to help people. He didn’t want to cause pain.
The thundering in his head worsened but he didn’t care anymore. The forest was not going to stop him. He pushed onward, his arms and legs scratched by the surroundings, his face bruised as low branches cracked against him.
And after a time he could not count, he broke free of the forest and rolled away on the grass for as long as he could stomach it.
He looked back at the trees and felt the nature jade calm down at last. He pulled it out and looked at it in disbelief. He turned it over, but his eyes were working fine.
It wasn’t the jade at all. It was a piece of wood.
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