Black Jade

by David Zindell

  Although I could not behold Estrella's aura just then as Abrasax did, she seemed the brightest being in the room, and her eyes outshone even the silustria of my sword.

  'It's a pity,' Master Matai said, 'that she cannot speak to us. I would like to know where she was born, and when. A seard's stars would be close to those of a Maitreya.'

  It is a pity that she cannot speak,' Master Okuth said. He was a smallish man who seemed to hold inside his kind green eyes whole rivers of compassion. 'For pity's sake, and her own, I would like a chance to heal her of her affliction.'

  Master Juwain held up his varistei and said to him, 'More than once, before the Red Dragon regained the Lightstone, I tried to use this to heal Estrella - in vain. Of course, I am only a Master Healer; you are the Master Healer.'

  'I believe you have done as much as any of us can do,' Master Okuth told him. 'At least until the Maitreya is found and comes into his power. My power is now constraint I am entrusted with a green gelstei, as are you, but the Red Dragon knows that we keep this stone, and I do not dare to use it.'

  'Then how do you propose to heal Estrella?'

  'In truth, I don't. At least not here, and not tonight. But it may be that through the Great Gelstei, she could speak to us in a way that we can understand, for a short while.'

  'And the cost to the girl? What if she doesn't want to speak?'

  All eyes now turned on Estrella, sitting calmly as she nibbled on a cake crumb and regarded Master Okuth.

  'There should be no cost,' Master Okuth said.

  'Just the opposite,' Master Matai said. 'Those whose chakras have been opened by the Great Gelstei feel strengthened and enlivened.'

  'And you believe that engendering speech,' Master Juwain said to Master Okuth, 'is it merely a matter of opening the girl this way?'

  'It is indeed more complicated than that,' Master Okuth told us. 'Much more complicated. But let us just say that the power of the seven Openers projects through sound and resonates with the secret music that inheres in all things.'

  Kane scowled at this, and looked at me. I knew that my savage friend hated it when the Brothers spoke so esoterically.

  'You have my promise,' Abrasax assured us, 'that this test will leave Estrella unharmed. But will she consent to it?'

  Estrella looked at him with complete trust. Then she quickly nodded her head.

  'Good,' Abrasax said. 'Then why don't we begin?'

  He held his hand, cupping his clear gelstei, out toward Estrella. The other Masters did likewise with their crystals. Estrella sat very straight and still, not knowing what to expect. She seemed at once curious and bemused by the powers of these seven old men and their mysterious crystals.

  As we all waited, breathing deeply, the seven Openers began to luminesce. I sensed, rather than saw, the seven wheels of light along Estrella's spine scintillating in response to the gelstei's touch. The red of the First, Master Matai's stone, seemed to give its fire to Estrella's lowest chakra even as something deep inside Estrella called out to it. And this calling we all heard as a single, clear, plangent note. It played back and forth between Estrella and the gelstei. The other Masters with their stones likewise opened Estrella's other chakras, and a beautiful music poured out into the chamber's cool air. I could almost see the colors of this music. Master Storr's gleaming purple stone, I thought, struck deep chords with some secret organ of speech within Estrella's head. Master Yasul's gelstei, the Fifth, as blue as a sapphire, blazed more brightly than did any of the others. It seemed to summon a bright song from within Estrella's throat. Without warning, she began laughing out loud: a delightful sound like the tinkling of bells. And then her mouth opened as perfectly formed words began pouring from her lips like a silver stream:

  'I've wanted to talk so badly, to tell you things, Val Maram Atara, everyone, to tell you everything, and now there is all the time in the world, but so little time. Now, I can speak again, and that's a miracle but it won't last because nothing does and yet everything. . .'

  She continued chattering on in a like way as we all sat listening in amazement. Her voice was sweet, passionate and perfectly clear It flowed with a musical quality, bright as the notes of a flute. It partook of Atara's diction and phrasing, and Liljana's, too, as if she patterned her speech after that of these two women whom she adored. And yet, this torrent of sound fairly soared with a wild joy that was all her own. It seemed that she wanted to cram the entire world into a few, quick, rushing breaths:

  ' . . it's all so beautiful, and I'm so grateful, Val - Val, Val, Val! - so grateful to you for saving my life. For life. I've wanted so badly to sing with you, and Kane, our bright, bloody, beautiful Kane, and all of you, to sing and laugh: to laugh at Maram and his silly, stupid, wonderful jokes. To weep with Atara. No eyes, no tears, no hope, it seems, but love - love, love, love! There is so much to say. But so little, really, only one thing, and I should be glad I can speak again, almost as I did inside, not in words but in a kind of music that gives birth to words. Do you know what I mean? It's like the singing of the birds: so pretty, so pure, so here. . . and now, and yet always and forever. This beautiful, beautiful thing - it sings me! I am so happy! And so I can't help singing, too, to the birds and the sky and the world, and everything sings back, in rubies and rainbows, in songs to the sun, and sometimes even in silence. The silence. It's pulling me back, soon, too soon, but don't feel sorry for me, please! These fires that the old men's gelstei lit inside me flare like little suns, but soon they will fade, I can feel it, quickly burning out but never quite out. Because it always blazes, even in dark things: black gelstei and burnt crosses and hate. Val! - even in the dead! In your father and mother, and mine, wherever they are, because no one is ever really dead and there is a light that always shines, the light, the light, the light. . .'

  As the candles' flames cast dancing shadows on the room's graven walls, we all sat regarding Estrella. At last, she seemed to run out of things to say. She sat peacefully on her cushion with her fingers laced together. I could not tell if she had fallen quiet for a moment or had returned to the deeper silence of the mute. And then Abrasax nodded his head and said to her. 'That was remarkable.'

  'Yes, remarkable,' Master Storr agreed. But his voice swelled with a patronizing tone, and he seemed to regard Estrella as if she might be simpleminded. He said to her, 'I'm sure that we were all touched by your .. . enthusiasm. But I'm not sure that any of our questions has been answered.'

  'But you haven't asked me any questions yet!' she said to him. She smiled at him, and then laughed softly, and I felt her voice box vibrating like the strings of a mandolet.

  'You must know, child, what we wish to know.'

  Estrella looked at the Brotherhood's seven masters, who studied her every expression. She said, 'I think you want to know everything.'

  Even the sour, serious Master Storr smiled at this. 'No, not everything - at least not tonight. But we would like to learn more concerning the Maitreya. Can you not tell us anything about him?'

  'But I already did!'

  Master Storr rubbed at his eyes and stared at her. 'To speak once again after so long a silence must be a strain on you. On your throat, on your lungs ... even on your mind. I'm not sure that we all understood what you said.'

  Her response to this was to smile at him as if she felt very sorry for his inability to apprehend the most simple of things.

  'And so,' Master Storr continued, as his face reddened, 'we still have questions that we would -'

  'But why don't you just ask them, then?'

  Master Storr drew in a long breath as he squeezed his fingers around his purple crystal. And he said to Estrella: 'You are a seard - this seems beyond any doubt. But how is it that a seard can recognize the Maitreya?'

  'How should I know,' she said, 'since I haven't recognized him yet?'

  'But you must have some idea!'

  Estrella brushed back the dark curls from around her eyes and glanced at Abrasax. 'How do you recognize the Grandfathe
r when you meet him walking down a path?'

  'But I know him! I've known him, now, for nearly fifty years!'

  'I've known the Shining One for fifty thousand years. As long as the stars have shined. Really, forever.'

  Master Storr waved his hand in the air, and shook his head. He seemed to give up hope of understanding anything that she told him.

  And then Master Matai steered the questioning along a different tack as he asked her, 'Can you tell me where you were born, and when?'

  'I'm sorry, but I don't remember. Perhaps it was in the Dark City.'

  'In Argattha? But didn't anyone ever tell you how old you are?'

  'No, I don't think they did. Does it matter?' 'It might help in corroborating the Maitreya's horoscope.' 'But if you've drawn up his horoscope, you already know how old he is and where he was born!'

  Now it was Master Matai's turn to throw up his hand in frustration.

  Then Abrasax said to her, 'Estrella, do you have any idea where the Maitreya might be found?'

  With a quick, glad motion, she nodded her head.

  'Where, then?'

  And she told him, 'Here.'

  'Here?' Abrasax said. 'Do you mean, on Ea? In these mountains?'

  'No, here, with us in this room, I hope. He is.'

  Abrasax's eyebrows pulled together. He seemed as mystified by Estrella as were Master Matai and Master Storr. He asked her, 'But who is the Maitreya, then?'

  Without hesitation, she looked at me and said, 'Val is.'

  My heart suddenly pounded inside my chest with hard, painful beats. I did not want to believe what I had heard her say.

  And neither, it seemed, did Abrasax. He said to Estrella, 'You were with Valashu in Tria when it was finally proved that he could not be the Maitreya. And now you are telling us that he is?'

  'Yes, he is,' Estrella said smiling at me. She turned to look at the table to the right of mine. 'And so is Maram.'

  'Sar Maram Marshayk!' Abrasax said.

  Maram's eyes widened in astonishment as he patted his overstuffed belly and belched.

  'Yes, he - he is!' Estrella said. 'And Master Storr, too.'

  The Master Galastei shook his head as he looked at Abrasax. And then Master Okuth, sitting next to him as he held out his green crystal, announced, 'The girl is tiring, and so we should conclude the test.'

  'The girl is more than tired,' Master Storr said. 'She suffers from delusion.'

  'No, only from confusion, I think,' Master Okuth said. 'We know that the Red Dragon, in making her mute, did mischief to her mind. Our gelstei have let her summon up words but it seems have not undone the harm. There is something about her words and our understanding of them, and vice versa, that doesn't quite go together. It is like oil and water.'

  'Her words,' Master Storr said, speaking in front of Estrella as if she were only one of the room's ornaments, 'are as unreliable as thin ice over a pond. I do not see how we can trust her to! recognize the Maitreya.'

  Liljana, sitting next to me, had finally had enough of Master Storr's rudeness. She leaned over to the table next to her, and threw her arm around Estrella as she said, 'You speak of words, and yet fail to use them precisely. Kasandra prophesied that Estrella would show the Maitreya, not merely recognize him.'

  'I'm not sure I see the difference,' Master Storr said.

  'I'm not sure you do,' Liljana said, drawing Estrella closer as she glared at Master Storr. 'And so who is deluded?'

  At this, Abrasax held up his hand as if to ask for peace. He said, 'And I'm not sure that words, or any understanding of them, will help Estrella fulfill the prophecy. Her mind might or might not have been harmed, but not her eyes and certainly not her heart.'

  'Then why don't we,' Master Storr huffed out, 'conclude the test as we had agreed?'

  Abrasax inclined his head at this, and said to Estrella, 'Are you willing?'

  'Yes, I am,' Estrella said, nodding back to him. She slumped on her cushion, slightly, and rubbed at her eyes. 'But I am tired. I'd like to talk and talk all night, and maybe you'd understand, but I'm so so tired, and it was all so bright and warm inside, but now its getting cold, and it hurts, and so will you please give me back the silence?'

  'But there is more,' Master Storr said, 'that she might tell us and-'

  'Please - it hurts!' Estrella said. 'It hurts, it hurts, it hurts .. .'

  Abrasax regarded her only for a moment before bowing his head to her. Then he closed his fingers around his clear gelstei, which seemed to quiesce and lose its light. The other Masters took this as a cue to put away their stones. Estrella immediately sat up straighter. I felt her plunge into a deep, silent pool. Her face lit up with a smile of contentment that spoke more than entire rivers of words.

  Then Abrasax motioned to Master Storr, who reached down by his side. He lifted up a cracked, ebony box and showed it to us. He called for Estrella's table to be cleared. After Liljana and I helped Masters Nolashar and Yasul move tea cups and plates to our table, Master Storr stood up and stepped over to set the box in front of Estrella. With great reverence, he opened it. One by one, he took out various artifacts: a glass pen, a jade spoon, a chess piece (the- white king) carved out of ancient ivory, a plain gold ring. He stood gazing at the items gleaming faintly on the table.

  'One of these things,' he said to Estrella, 'once belonged to the last Maitreya, Godavanni the Glorious. Can you recognize which one? Or, that is, show it to us?'

  His face hardened into an iron-like mask, so as not to give hint which item this might be. So it was with the other Masters. They hardly dared to breathe as they waited to see what Estrella would do.

  As quick as the beating of a bird's wings, she clapped her hands together. Her face brightened as she smiled with delight. Then, without hesitation, her hands swept forward and closed around the wooden box.

  'Excellent!' Master Virang cried out. 'Most excellent!'

  'A seard, indeed,' Master Nolashar said.

  Master Storr's lips tightened as if someone had forced a sour cherry into his mouth. He looked from Estrella to Liljana, and said, 'You didn't, Materix of the Maitriche Telu, teach this girl to read minds, did you?'

  In answer, Liljana only glared at him. Master Storr clearly didn't like what he must have seen in her mind, for he turned away from her and stared at the box cupped in Estrella's hands. 'It is known,' he announced, 'that Godavanni kept three song stones inside this box. The stones have long since been lost, and perhaps the songs as well, but at least we still have this.'

  Estrella set the box back on the table, and smiled at him. And then Abrasax said to Master Storr, 'This is enough, do you agree? I believe the girl will show us the Maitreya.'

  Master Storr rubbed his jaw as he stood eyeing the box. 'I am coming to believe that, too. But the question that must be answered above all others is: can Valashu Elahad lead her to him?'

  And with that, he turned to regard me.

  'Tell me where he might be found,' I said to Master Storr, 'and I will lead Estrella there, along with the rest of my friends - and even yourself if you don't trust file.'

  'Bold words. Prince Valashu,' Master Storr said. 'We have heard now you put yourself forward as the Maitreya, with great boldness, and claimed the Lightstone for yourself. To what purpose, we must wonder? You would have made yourself warlord of a grand alliance, commander of a hundred thousand swords, a king of kings - is it your hope now that finding the Maitreya will help You claim this authority?'

  The look of scorn of Master Storr's face made me grind my teeth. Wrath filled my heart then, and to the seven old masters gazing at me I said, 'What man can say in truth that his purpose is as pure as damask, unstained by any desire for the good regard of other men or influence upon them? Who can declare that every act of his life has flown straight and true as an arrow toward a single target? Did you, Master Storr, Master of the Gelstei, join the Brotherhood solely out of a love for knowledge and service, with no thought at all of excelling and being recognized for your effort
s? Do you never doubt if your study of the gelstei conceals a deeper urge to control and wield them? You have heard a great deal about me, it seems, but know very little. I am of the sword, as you have said. I would break it into pieces, if I could. All swords, everywhere. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to enter the Brotherhood, as you were privileged to do, to play the flute and spend my life making music. But I had duties: to my family, to my father, to my land. To all lands. Fate called me to recover the Lightstone, with the help of my friends, and then to see it stolen by the Crucifier. Was there not one moment when I desired to lead armies against him and see him cut into pieces? Do I never long, now, by force of arms to cut the Cup of Heaven from his bloody hand? If I said no, you would hear the lie in my voice. Hear, then, the truth: six brothers I had, and I would have shouted in gladness if any of them had become king of Mesh before me. A mother, father and grandmother I had, and they are all dead because of me. Four thousand of Mesh's bravest warriors, too. Everyone knows this. I am an outcast, now. And so I cannot hope to be king of Mesh, let alone lord of a great alliance. All that remains to me is to try to stop the Red Dragon from doing the worst. It is why I think and feel and breathe. I do not dare even to hope that a time may come when I can cast this into the sea and take up the flute once more.'

  So saying, I lifted up my sword, and looked at the seven Masters who regarded me. Master Storr stared at me with his cold, blue eyes, and I sensed that he saw only my fury to defeat Morjin.

  Abrasax, however, saw other things. He studied me from across our table as he pulled at his beard. 'We know there were signs that you were the Maitreya.'

  'Yes,' I said, 'there were signs.'

  'But you ignored, didn't you, the even stronger sign of the truth inside yourself?'

  I held my breath in disquiet that he could read me so keenly.

  Then I said, 'Yes, I always knew. But I didn't want to know I wanted. . .to make everything right. And so I claimed the Lightstone.'

  And upon this crime, destruction and death had followed like an evil wind. Abrasax, I thought, understood this very well, as he understood me. He had no need to act as my accuser and judge when I had already condemned myself so damnably. But he was not ready to see me act as my own executioner. I felt forgiveness pouring out of him, and something else, too: an admonition that hatred of myself could destroy me more surely than any weapon or poison of Morjin's. Abrasax's eyes were soft yet unyielding upon my face. Looking into these deep, umber orbs made me want to trust him without question.