“None of those, my boy, none of those. What there was inside the treasure chest of the Zindar was a wish.”
The childish voice is filled with a practiced disappointment. “Only a wish, Dad? Did you open up the chest and take a look at this wish?”
“No. I left it where it was.”
“Why?”
“Because if I’d have taken that wish into me, I would have been the most powerful person in the world, and it isn’t right for any one person to have so much power. So, I didn’t unlock the treasure chest, even though I knew how to. I just left that wish where it was.”
“Is that all you did with it, Dad?”
“No. I put a wish of my own inside the casket alongside the Zindar one. My own wish was very little, you see, so I was able to slip it in through the keyhole without any difficulties. And my wish is still there so that, someday when the time’s right for the Zindar chest to be opened, they’ll find my wish too.
“When I’d done that, me and your Grandpa Lemmington left your uncles Rasco and Nettletree to … to clear up things where we’d been digging up the treasure, and we took the Zindar chest back out of Mugwort Forest and all the way to the edge of the Mighty Enormous Cliff.”
“Why?”
“Because it was the right thing to do.”
“Why?”
“Because it was, that’s all. With your Grandpa Lemmington beside me, I threw the casket as far as I could away from me toward the ocean, and we both watched it twisting and turning as it flew through the air, down, down and ever down, past the sharp and murderous rocks at the foot of the Mighty Enormous Cliff to land in the place beyond them where the waves muster themselves for their final attack on the shore.
“We thought the chest would float, but it didn’t. When it landed in the water it made not the slightest splash, just went from air into water as if the two were really just the same. For a moment the seething waters stilled, so we could see as the chest sank straight to the bed of the sea, where it lay on the sand as if it had been there always.”
“Is it still there, Dad?”
“Yes. And sometimes – hardly ever, but sometimes – you can catch a glimpse of it if you’re good enough and wise enough and clever enough. Maybe when you’re older, Nimbus, you’ll be one of those people who can see it. It depends, I’d say, on whether or not you eat up all your oatmeal for breakfast, and whether you’re nice to your little sister.”
“But Da–ad, sometimes she’s a pain in the—”
“It’s only because she takes after your moth—ouch!”
The full moon looks down on them benignly. It’s the only one, aside from Viola, who can hear Sylvester’s tale.
“But if you do see it,” Sylvester continues, rubbing his shin, “no matter how good and clever and wise you are, you’ll also have to be very, very lucky. You see, the treasure chest of the Zindars is hiding behind what some people call the Ninth Wave.”
“Surely the ocean’s just full of waves, Dad? Isn’t nine kind of a small number for a wave to have?”
“What’s meant is every ninth wave, son. Sailors say that every ninth wave that comes to shore is a bit bigger than the rest. Then there are other people who say this mortal world of ours is surrounded by the Ninth Wave, and that only by going through the Ninth Wave (which is to say, unless you’re very special, by dying) can you see into the world beyond.”
“Is it that kind of Ninth Wave the treasure chest’s hiding behind, Dad?”
“No, son.” Sylvester looks over and sees, limned in silver by the light of the moon, the face of his beloved wife.
“No, Viola,” he adds in a voice so quiet it isn’t even a whisper. “The Ninth Wave is the wish I gave to the treasure chest of the Zindars. Ever since I slipped it through the lock, my wish has been in the process of coming true. My wish that we lemmings assume our rightful place in Sagaria, so that we can walk proudly beside the other peaceable creatures of the world and call them our friends, just as they call us their friends. That’s enough of a wish for me. Even though my wish is so very small by comparison with the Zindar one, it’s helping the Zindar wish come true too.
“By the time, long in the future, when someone knows it’s right to unlock the chest, it’ll be because their wish is the same as the one the Zindars gave to Sagaria.
“The power to wish the same wishes they can.”
Epilogue
In his later years, Sylvester retired from being chief librarian and, together with Viola, started one of the most renowned orphanages in Sagaria. Although they were grandparents by that stage and most of the education and practical issues were managed by their daughter, Anemone, and her brother and sister, Viola and Sylvester still took part as often as they could.
One summer evening, when the sun had begun to set, Viola was reading aloud to a group of children. It was a fantasy story about pirates, treasures and adventure on the high seas. She could see her students’ eyes wide with excitement. Sylvester sat in a corner, also eagerly listening. Viola was looking for a place in the tale that’d make a natural stop and also would serve as a cliffhanger for tomorrow’s reading session. She found one a few paragraphs down the page, and was dropping her voice a notch or two to increase the atmosphere when a weak knock was heard coming from the open door of the orphanage.
She glanced up from the book and all the children turned as one to look at the door.A little fox cub stood on the doorstep, looking shy. He had holes in his pants and his vest was in tatters. He was holding a small bouquet of wildflowers in his grimy paws. The cub shifted his feet nervously as if wanting to hide his mucky shoes and kept staring down at the floor.
“I-I wonder if you’ll accept someone l-like me,” he stammered, still not looking up.
“If you don’t, I-I fully understand, madam, and . . .”
A hug silenced the flow of words. He was unable to speak anymore as he was being embraced with the greatest affection he had ever felt. For a moment, he froze at the enormity of it all, but then a warm feeling spread through his thin and undernourished body. His whole being relaxed in that embrace and all his fears and worries were immediately cleansed from his mind. A hesitant smile crept across his face, which soon turned into an affectionate grin. He closed his eyes and tenderly put his short arms around Viola and deeply inhaled the scent of his new life.
✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿
At that precise moment, the lid of a small chest resting on the ocean floor opened. A pillar of light brighter than a thousand suns rose from the ocean. It was later said that its blinding illumination reached the farthest fringes of Sagaria. It lasted for only a second or two, but it was enough to bathe the world in a golden radiance. People who saw it thought that all the stars in the universe had fallen. The children and Viola ran to the window to watch. Sylvester grabbed his walking stick and stumbled after them as fast as he could.
The little chest started to ascend and shot right through the sap-green waves and up toward the evening sky. Higher and higher it went, leaving a sparkling tail of multi-colored light after it as it left the world. It headed into the velveteen, infinite space and soon vanished among the bright and twinkling stars.
THE END
About the Author
John Dahlgren, a psychologist and a member of the Swiss Psychologist Federation, has been working as a marketing director for a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland since 1998. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, he grew up close to the vast and untamed landscapes of Scandinavia, and was influenced from an early age by Nordic sagas, fairy tales and mythologies. This environment fired his imagination and later inspired him to become a fiction writer. He has studied creative and fiction writing at Oxford University, where he earned high praise for his work. Currently engaged in several book projects for both younger readers and adults, he lives in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, with his wife and two children.
Coming Soon!
Sagaria
John Dahlgren’s next novel, featuring the mysterious world of Sagaria.
Three worlds are in danger.
And unfortunately one of them is yours.
After the mysterious kidnapping of his eccentric grandfather, Sagandran Sacks sets out on a rescue mission. However, he doesn’t expect his search to bring him to a parallel world…
Available in bookstores
Fall 2011
www.sagaria.info
www.johndahlgren.com
© John Dahlgren 2011
First published in 2011
by Editions Didier Millet Pte Ltd
121 Telok Ayer Street #03-01
Singapore 068590
www.edmbooks.com.sg
Illustrations by Laura Diehl
for all electronic editions: ISBN: to come
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.
link to title page
The Tides of Avarice Page 61
