The Branches of Time

by Luca Rossi

  I'll be alone. Where I used to spend time with my friends and the other workers, now I'll visit all alone.

  He headed towards the front door of the Temple and, after opening it, took a deep breath of the brisk air that whipped against his face. It was a beautiful, bright day. Rays of sunshine filtered through the trees of the forest, bouncing off the dazzling stretch of snow that covered the large square in front of the Temple.

  There wasn't a single trace of the cadavers or stone shards.

  Bashinoir went down the front staircase, stopping once again to gulp down the fresh air. He instinctively turned Northwest, towards the village, but decided instead to head East. The trails were covered with powdery snow. Once he entered the forest, every tree trunk seemed to remind him of a memory from his past.

  When he was younger, he loved playing in the forest. Nothing was more fun than hiding in spots that only he knew about. They were his dens, and he felt safe and protected inside of them.

  A few years later, still quite young, he had learned to hunt and soon became an infallible predator.

  And, among those branches and leaves, he had kissed Lil for the first time. Lil, the woman who became his wife.

  She had always been beautiful, even as a little girl. He had spent years courting her, until one day, as they walked along, she looked at him quite candidly and asked: “So, Bashinoir. When are you going to kiss me?” He didn't waste any time, he pulled her close and kissed her, wanting nothing more than to stay with her forever.

  And his father? He taught me so many things in this place. That man seemed to know every plant, tree, and animal, their most carefully guarded secrets, their curative properties.

  “We don't know our future, so we should always be ready for anything,” his father used to say. But on that island, far away from everything, what could ever happen to them? Since his people had reached that island, they had prospered in peace. Only children were scared by the legends of the past.

  Now, from far away, Bashinoir began to hear the call, the music of the sea. In his mind's eye, he saw the waves crashing against the shore, bathing it, then drawing back again. He felt that once he reached the beach, he would regain the peace he had lost. He walked more quickly, anxious. The fragrance of the sea grew more intense in the air.

  The trees thinned and finally the giant mirror of water shone before him. He lowered his eyelids: so much beauty was painful. He took a deep breath and a new energy flowed through him. The strength of that element penetrated every single fiber of his being. It opened him back up. The sun's reflection drew a golden path that led straight to him. He moved forward. The snow covered the beach until just a few steps away from the water. A few rocks jutted out of the water, just a few yards offshore.

  The image of Lil, his wife, sitting on that rock and enjoying the heat of a bright, sunny day during the warm season suddenly flooded through his mind. He felt a surge of rage. Why, after everything they had been through, wasn't she here with him? The rituals, the Temple, the protections. Our survival. Yes, it's right for her to move forward with her new life. Actually, it's necessary.

  He forced himself to think of something else. He couldn't bear the pain anymore. He walked along the shore. After a few hundred feet, the beach was interrupted by a cliff that rose high into the sky. Bashinoir climbed up, observing the forest, the sea, the coast. He made his way through the snow, trying to clear his mind. He thought he could reconnect with himself, alone, in his element. But he had come here so many times before with Lil. He wondered if there was a single spot on the island where the two had never visited together. But the pain is coming from inside of me, not from out here. He continued climbing. One particularly large rock stretched out over the sea, now dozens of yards below. It was a splendid panoramic spot, one of his favorites, so he stopped and admired the sea once again. He studied the coast towards the North.

  A strange shadow hovered just underneath the surface of the water. He narrowed his eyes. Is that some sort of big fish? But large fish didn't swim in that area. The shadow headed towards the coast, below the very spot where he was standing. It was moving in a straight line. A fish doesn't move that way.

  Bashinoir knelt down on the snow, placing his hands on the rocky ground before him to get a better look. The shadow had an irregular shape to it – shifting, ambiguous. It was somewhat round, but it continually changed. No, that's not a fish. It's...something else.

  Once it was directly below him, he leaned down even further. The shape stopped moving.

  Intrigued, Bashinoir stared at it. He almost felt as if the shadow were returning his gaze, making him feel strangely intimidated. No, what am I thinking? It's got to be some sort of marine animal. I'm just too high up to be able to see it clearly.

  He noticed that he felt lighter, calmer, and more relaxed than he had in ages. His thoughts flowed freely, as if an old woman were narrating an ancient story: the shower of the deathly sharp rock shards, the disappearance of the cadavers, the priestess, the Temple, Lil's last embrace. But the anguish and the desperation that had overwhelmed him until just a few moments ago had disappeared. The agonizing twinge from the wound on his calf had vanished. Once again, he studied the shadow below him. The waves made it bob up and down. It suddenly moved off, not further down the coast, but out to the open sea.

  Desolation ripped through his soul like a flooding river. The stress of recent events and his sad condition came crashing down upon him, until he found it hard to breathe and his eyes watered. He brought a hand to his calf, where the wound had resumed pulsating with pain.

  25

  “Master, through my projection I found a man walking along the shore!”

  Intrigued, Obolil lifted his gaze towards the apprentice who, rising from the cot, was speaking very animatedly, his eyes shining with excitement.

  Already? “Are you sure? Or was it just an illusion, one of the few things foolish old Aldin seems to have left as his legacy?”

  Ilis hesitated. What if he was right? In all fairness, he hadn't mastered the astral voyage, much less long-distance projections. But he had felt that sensation so clearly...

  In front of Ilis' uncertain eyes, Obolil lost his patience. “Come on, boy. Tell me what happened.”

  Ilis took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to recall what had just happened: “I was in the astral dimension, and I stopped on this side of the barrier, as you ordered me to. I sent a projection towards the coast of the island. This time, I was able to distinctly sense the beaches, the rocks, and the trees. I started to circumnavigate the coast, until I felt that I could perceive a human frequency not too far away. I tried to get closer, but my projection is still very weak and I was unable to move it out from under the water. The man was at a very high point of the coast, but it seemed as if he were kneeling down to look in my direction.”

  Hmm...if this is true, it would indeed be extraordinary. I never would have imagined that this boy could progress so quickly. Ah, if only he hadn't wasted his best years caught up in foolish games with that incompetent Aldin!

  Ilis examined the wizard's expression, hoping he had finally made a positive impression. “And his thoughts? Were you able to perceive them?” Obolil asked brusquely.

  “N-no, master. But as I mentioned, the man was very high up. I could only detect a few emotions.” He wanted to continue, but the wizard's sneering expression snuffed out any enthusiasm he had felt over the success of his mission.

  “And so? What kind of emotions did that man feel?”

  Ilis, increasingly insecure, tried to respond: “Well, see...I got the impression that he felt very alone. And unhappy...well, really unhappy. I felt that he was having a horrible day, even though the place where he was standing gave him a certain level of comfort.”

  Good, good.

  “Good, good. So try to project yourself to that point more often. He might come back, and you'd better be there waiting for him. When he noticed your projection, how did he react?”

&n
bsp; “Well, I got the feeling he was curious. I did what you taught me to do and I emanated a flow of positive energy. It was very tiring, but I think he felt the effect.”

  If only I could have been there! Obolil regretted no longer having the strength needed for such long astral voyages.

  “If you get another chance to meet him, you need to attract him down to a lower point along the coast. Move slowly, so he'll come and follow you. Try to bring him to a place where you can read his thoughts. Once you manage to do that, don't go overboard. Use a very light touch, he shouldn't pick up on what you're doing. Read everything you can. No more than a few minutes. Send out a sensation of warmth towards him, and then come immediately back and report to me. We need to make him come back as much as possible, hopefully every day. Once we thoroughly understand his thoughts and what his soul longs for, we'll figure out how to manipulate him.”

  Maybe he really is impressed but doesn't want me to know that, the apprentice consoled himself.

  26

  Sitting at the table in the large kitchen, Lil gulped down her husband's words. Bashinoir had told them about everything he had done that day. He had explored the island, looking for evidence of any changes, but didn't notice anything in particular. He had gone to the village. The houses were cold and abandoned. Everything had stayed the way it was on the day the stone shards rained down. He had taken care of the animals which, although starving, had all survived in their stables. And he had started to build a new structure close to the Temple. From the way he was talking, it seemed as if Bashinoir were anxious to finish the job. Maybe he just doesn't want to go back to the village again.

  As Lil listened to him talk about his time outside of the Temple, she felt a lump in her throat. She looked at Miril, thankful that the priestess didn't seem to notice her emotions.

  Bashinoir didn't say anything about their old house and she didn't have the courage to ask about it.

  “Good,” Miril said with a slight smile. “It's very comforting to know that the animals are in good health.”

  Those words caught Bashinoir and Lil by surprise. When had a priestess ever cared about the health of a bunch of animals?

  Lil felt slightly embarrassed. She wished she could find a way to lighten up the evening. After all, they were alive, so they had the duty to try to be at least a little bit cheerful. However, Bashinoir and Miril, despite his respectful attitude and her smiles, seemed to belong to a far away world. “Want to listen to a song?” Lil asked them.

  Bashinoir and the priestess turned towards her; he was surprised, and she was serene.

  “Of course, why not?” Miril responded.

  Lil stood up, moved towards the hearth, made a quick curtsy and started to sing a melody she had learned from her mother.

  It was a legend about her people, narrating how their ancestors, once they had landed on Turios after escaping from Isk by sea, had started building houses and the Temple. As they built new houses to keep them warm, the first nucleus of the Temple—nothing more than a circle of stones laid out in a meadow—had protected them enough that they could live in peace.

  It was a beautiful melody, imbued with hopeful emotions and dreams for the future.

  As she sang, Lil observed Bashinoir, who appeared to be moved. The music touched him. Once she finished, Lil made another curtsy.

  “They were an entire tribe. They were escaping from their land and they chose to settle down here. But there are only three of us,” Bashinoir thought aloud.

  He was the first to be surprised by his own words. He never would have imagined he could express himself so freely in the presence of the priestess.

  “Bashinoir, what do you think we can do?” she asked.

  He understood that he couldn't back down from expressing his point of view. “Perhaps, priestess, we should take to the sea. I spent a long time looking at it today. I saw its splendor and I felt the promises that it holds. Perhaps we would die, in fact we probably would, but what do we have to look forward to here?”

  He feels alone. Miril and I spend all day working on the tiring ritual protections, we don't even have time to think about these kinds of things, Lil thought.

  “It is a possibility,” Miril replied. “However, we don't have any nautical maps, not to mention a ship. Our ancestors got rid of everything because they wanted to stay on this island. Sometimes I wonder if there is a higher meaning to the isolation within which they voluntarily constrained us, not to mention the strength of the protection rituals for the Temple. In any case, they didn't want to return to the seas.”

  She knows a whole lot more than what she's willing to tell us. Since Lil had begun studying with Miril, she had begun to notice how much the priestess knew about the world, and how her understanding of it differed from their vision.

  The two women and the man were exhausted from the day's hard work. Bashinoir, after hearing her answer, considered the matter settled and politely took his leave. After Miril and Bashinoir had gone off, Lil took care of a few chores before retiring to her own room.

  This was her least favorite time of the evening. Spending the day in the company of Miril was comforting – often tiring, and sometimes she felt that she wouldn't be able to keep going, but those tasks helped keep her mind busy. Now, however, alone in her room with her own thoughts, she was once again wrapped in sadness and melancholy.

  A gentle knock on the door made her flinch.

  “I saw the light shining under the door and assumed you were still awake. Are you having trouble sleeping, Lil?” Miril asked. She was wearing her nightgown, her hair undone.

  Despite all the time they spent together, Lil still wasn't too comfortable talking about personal things. “It's no big deal. I'm just having a hard time getting used to my new home.”

  “As well as this sense of solitude, I imagine?” the woman asked, smiling.

  “Actually, yes,” Lil admitted. “I've slept beside him for so many years. And before then, I slept with my sisters.”

  “I see.” Miril continued smiling at her tenderly. “Would you prefer to have some company?”

  Lil's eyes grew wide. Why is she asking me that? She was the one who made it clear that, once I started out as a novice, I would no longer be able to lie beside Bashinoir. Has something changed? A spark of hope ignited deep within her soul. “Yes, I would,” she revealed, not without a hint of embarrassment.

  “Do you want me to come sleep with you?”

  Lil was dumbfounded: that wasn't the suggestion she was expecting. She hoped the priestess wouldn't feel offended by the astonishment that was undoubtedly written all over her face. “That w-would be nice; but I didn't think that was okay...” Her words seemed strange. I'm definitely offending her now.

  “We already slept together. Remember the first nights in front of the fireplace?” Miril continued calmly, noticing Lil's agitation.

  “Yes, but now...” Lil realized it would be stupid to question Miril's words. “That'd be very nice,” she hurried to correct herself. She wasn't Bashinoir, but it still would be so much better than solitude. She couldn't hold back a deep sigh.

  “Alright. Can you make a little room for me?”

  Miril seemed rather happy. Lil moved over to one side of the bed and the other woman laid down next to her.

  Lil felt tense, but she didn't toss or turn. Miril smelled so good. Her hair had the scent of floral essences.

  Maybe she really is happy. This is probably something new and pleasant for her, Lil reflected.

  The fatigue from the day got the better of her and Lil let herself fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.

  She woke up during the night, cold. In the darkness, she realized the fire had gone out. She wondered, half-asleep, if she should start another fire, but a warm arm comforted her and she fell asleep once again, content.

  27

  King Beanor nervously drummed his fingers against the arm of his throne. The large ceremonial hall was sumptuously decorated. The nobles of the city had come
running as soon as the royal guards notified them of the event. Almost all of the king's wives were present. A few were still busy giving orders to the servants, who were trying to prepare the family members of the girl the king was about to marry.

  Beanor motioned for the advisor Tuirl, seated in the first row, to come closer: “How much longer is this going to take? I've already been waiting for a half hour!”

  Tuirl shrugged his shoulders: “Your Highness, we have managed to arrange a wedding in just a few hours during the middle of the evening. All of the nobles rushed over here. The tailors, however, are still working on the clothes for Milia's family members, who unfortunately didn't have anything appropriate to wear.”

  “Milia? Who's that?”

  “Your Highness! It's the name of your future wife!”

  “Oh.” said Beanor, impatient. I want to fuck her! I want that nice little ass in my hands! I want to see her bend down in front of me! And then make her pay for forcing me to wait for so long.

  A royal guard, breathless, came forward and respectfully asked to speak with the king and his advisor.

  “Yes, yes, go on!” Beanor, annoyed, granted him permission.

  “Your Majesty, we can't find the girl's father! The wife told us he was coming back from a business trip. We went to meet him on the road he usually takes. We should have crossed paths with him at an inn no more than an hour from here by horse, thinking we could then bring him back for the wedding, but we didn't find him. The owner told us that, due to the bad weather, her father probably hadn't been able to get over the Sclir hill. Unfortunately, the first town on the other side of that hill is over six hours away by horse.” The guard spoke quickly, without pausing. The king's impatience was legendary and everyone knew that if he wasn't pleased with an explanation, he was capable of highly unusual reactions.