by Ted Dekker
Tanis had stayed with Thomas for a short time before leaving. Oddly, he had no desire to be with the man when he awoke.
He’d returned and spent some time in the village. Rachelle had asked him if he’d run into Thomas, and he’d told her that he had, and that Thomas was sleeping.
He’d wandered around the village feeling very much in place and at peace. By midday, however, he felt as though he must go somewhere by himself to consider the events continuing to nag his mind. And so he had come here, to this hill overlooking the entire valley.
Tanis had gone to fetch the sword he’d thrown in the woods yesterday and found it missing. And not only that, but Thomas was also missing. He wasn’t sure why he’d concluded that Thomas had taken the sword to the Crossing—perhaps because this very thought was on his own mind—but after searching high and low for the man, he decided to make another sword and go in search at the Crossing.
What interested him most was the fact that Thomas had come from the black forest and lived to tell of it. Not just once, but twice.
The creature . . . now the creature had been something else altogether. He’d never imagined Teeleh as he appeared. Indeed, he hadn’t imagined that such a beautiful being could have existed in the black forest at all. Admittedly, he looked rather unique with those green eyes and golden fur. But the song . . .
Oh, what a song!
The fact of the matter was that Tanis wanted very much to meet this creature again. He had no desire to cross into the black forest and drink the water, of course. That would mean death. Worse yet, it was forbidden. But to meet the black creature at the river—that had not been forbidden.
And Thomas had done it.
Tanis glanced at the sun. He had been sitting on the hill, turning the events over in his mind, for over an hour now. If he were to leave now, he could reach the black forest and return without being missed again.
He stood shakily to his feet. The eagerness he felt was odd enough to cause a slight confusion. He couldn’t remember ever feeling such strange turmoil. For a moment he thought he should just return to the village and forget the creature at the black forest completely. But he quickly decided against it. After all, he wanted very much to understand this terrible enemy of his. Not to mention the song. To understand one’s enemy is to have power over him.
Yes, Tanis wanted this very much, and there was no reason not to do what he so greatly desired. Unless, of course, it went against the will of Elyon. But Elyon had not prohibited meeting new creatures, regardless of where they lived. Even across the river.
With one last look to the valley floor, Tanis turned his back and struck out for the black forest.
Thomas woke with a start. The sweet smell of grass filled his nostrils. He’d dreamed again. Bangkok. They were running ragged in Bangkok because they’d finally accepted the virus at face value. The Raison Strain now existed, if only in laboratories. He had to find Monique, but he had no idea how. And here—
He jerked up. Tanis?
He scrambled to his feet and looked around. “Tanis!”
The rush of the river drifted from the east. It was midafternoon. Tanis must have left him near the Crossing and returned to the village.
It took him an hour to reach the valley, fifteen minutes of that retracing his way north after missing the path that led to the village. He had to reach Tanis and explain himself. If ever the man was capable of confusion, it would be now. And the fact that Tanis had made himself another sword after their discussion only yesterday didn’t bode well for the man.
He was bitten with the bug. His curiosity was turning. His desire was outpacing his satisfaction. He’d gone to the Crossing because he was tired of not knowing.
Well, now he knew, all right. The only question was, How much knowledge would suffice? And for how long?
Of course, Thomas had gone across as well. But he was different; there could no longer be any question about that. He hadn’t taken any water, but according to Teeleh, he’d eaten the fruit before losing his memory, and he’d managed to survive. It was like a vaccine, perhaps.
No, that couldn’t be right. Still, Thomas was quite sure that he was different from Tanis. Maybe the people from his village far away had more liberties. But that made even less sense. Maybe he was from Bangkok. He might be from Bangkok when he was dreaming, but in reality he was from here. This was his home, and his dreams of Bangkok were wreaking havoc here.
He should eat the rhambutan fruit and rid himself of these silly dreams. They were meddling with a tenuous balance. If not for him, Tanis wouldn’t have gone to the black forest today.
“Thomas!”
A Roush swept in from his right.
“Michal!”
The Roush hit the ground hard, bounced once, and flapped furiously to keep from crashing.
“Michal?”
“Oh, dear, dear! Oh, my goodness!”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Tanis. I think he is headed for the black forest.”
“Tanis? The black forest?” Impossible! He’d just been to the black forest a few hours ago!
“He was headed straight for it when I left to find you. And he was running. How is that for being sure?” Michal hopped about nervously as though he had stepped on a hot coal.
“For the sake of Elyon, why didn’t you stop him?”
“Why didn’t I stop you? It’s not my place; that’s why! He’s mad! You’re both mad, I tell you. Just plain mad. Sometimes I wonder what the point was. You humans are just too unpredictable.”
Thomas tried to think clearly. “Just because he’s running in that direction doesn’t mean he’s going to enter the black forest.”
Michal’s eyes flashed. “We don’t have time to discuss this! Even if we go now, you could be too late. Please. Do you know what this could mean?”
“He can’t be that stupid,” Thomas said. He meant to reassure Michal, but he didn’t even believe himself.
Neither did Michal. “Please, we must go now.”
The Roush ran along the grass, flapping madly. Then he was in the air. Thomas sprinted to catch him.
An image of the boy at the upper lake filled his mind. That had been two days ago. What had come over them? He suddenly felt suffocated with panic.
“Elyon!” he breathed.
But Elyon had grown completely silent.
“Michal!” he yelled.
The Roush was preoccupied with his own thoughts. Thomas quick- ened his pace. There was no way he could let Tanis do anything even remotely so unreasonable as talk to Teeleh.
Not while he was alive.
The scene that greeted Tanis when he broke onto the banks of the river stopped him cold.
As far as he could see in either direction, black creatures with red eyes crowded the trees along the edge of the black forest like a dense, shifting black cloud. There had to be a million of them. Maybe many more.
His first thought was that Thomas had been right—there were far too many to easily dispatch with a few well-placed kicks.
His second was to run.
Tanis jumped back under the cover of the trees. He had never heard that so many other creatures shared their world. He held his breath and peered around a tree at the wondrous sight.
And then he saw the beautiful creature standing on the white bridge. The one he had seen at sunrise! The beast wore a bright yellow cloak and a wreath fashioned with white flowers around his head. He gnawed on a large fruit, the likes of which Tanis had never seen, and stared directly at him with glowing, green eyes.
Silence. All but the river was deathly silent. It was as if they had expected him. What a lovely creature Teeleh was.
He caught himself. These were the Shataiki. Vermin. They were meant to be beaten, not coddled. But, as the histories had so eloquently recorded, to defeat your enemy you must know him. He would speak to the big beautiful one only. And he would pretend to be a friend. In this way he would outwit the creature by learning his weaknesses,
then return one day and be rid of him.
And he would do it holding the colored wood.
He grabbed a small green stick about the length of his arm and stepped out onto the bank.
“Greetings,” he called. “I am Tanis. By what name are you called?”
He knew, of course, but Tanis didn’t want to tip his hand. The beast tossed the half-eaten fruit behind him and rubbed the juice from his mouth with a hairy blue wing. He smiled with crooked yellow teeth. “I am Teeleh,” he said. “We have waited for you, my friend.”
Tanis glanced back at the colored forest. Well, then. Here was the creature he had come to meet. Tanis felt an uncommon flutter in his heart and stepped out to meet Teeleh, the leader of the Shataiki.
He stopped at the foot of the bridge and studied the creature. Of course! This was trickery! How could the leader of the Shataiki be different from his legions?
“You’re not what I expected,” he said.
“No? And what did you expect?”
“I had heard that you were quite clever. How clever is it to pretend you’re different than you really are when you know you’ll be found out?”
Teeleh chuckled. “You like that, don’t you?”
“I like what? Exposing you for what you are? Are you afraid to show me who you really are?”
“You like being clever,” Teeleh said. “It’s why you’ve come here. To be clever. To learn more. More knowledge. The truth.”
“Then show me the truth.”
“I intend to.”
Teeleh’s eyes turned first, from green to red. Then his wings and body, slowly to gray, then black. All the while his smile held true. Talons extended from his feet and dug into the wood. It was a shocking transformation, and Tanis gripped the colored stick tighter.
“Is that better?” The bat’s voice had changed to a low, guttural growl.
“No. It’s much worse. You’re the most hideous creature I could ever have imagined.”
“Ah, but I possess more knowledge and truth than you could ever have imagined as well. Would you like to hear?”
The invitation sounded suspect, but Tanis couldn’t think of an appropriate way to decline. How could he reject the truth?
Teeleh’s snout suddenly gaped wide, so that Tanis could see the back of his mouth, where his pink tongue disappeared into a dark throat. A low, rumbling note rolled out, followed immediately by a high, piercing one that seemed to reach into him and touch his spine. Teeleh’s song ravaged him with its strange chorus of terrible beauty. Powerful and conquering and intoxicating at once. Tanis felt an overwhelming compulsion to rush up the bridge, but he held firm.
Teeleh closed his mouth. The notes echoed, then fell silent. The bats in the forest peered at him without a stir. Tanis felt a little disorientated by all these new sensations.
“This is new to you?” Teeleh asked.
Tanis shifted the makeshift sword to his left hand. “Yes.”
“And do you know why it’s new?”
It was a good question. A trick? No, just a question.
“Are you afraid of me?” Teeleh asked. “You know that I can’t cross the bridge, yet you stand at the bottom in fear.”
“Why would I be afraid of what can’t harm me?”
No, that’s not entirely true. He can hurt me. I must be very careful.
“Then walk closer. You want to know more about me so that you can destroy me. So walk closer and see me clearly.”
How did the beast know this?
“Because I know far more than you do, my friend. And I can tell you how to know what I know. Come closer. You’re safe. You have the wood in your hand.”
Teeleh could have guessed his thoughts; they weren’t so unique. At any rate, he should show this beast that he was not afraid. What kind of warrior quivered at the bottom of the bridge? He walked up the white planks and stopped ten feet from Teeleh.
“You are braver than most,” the bat said, eying his colored sword.
“And I am not as dense as you think I am,” Tanis said. “I know that even now you’re trying your trickery.”
“If I use this . . . trickery and persuade you by it, wouldn’t that mean I am smarter than you?”
Tanis considered the logic. “Perhaps.”
“Then trickery is a form of knowledge. And knowledge is a form of truth. And you want more of it; otherwise, as I said, you wouldn’t be here. So if by using trickery I persuade you to accept my knowledge, it can only be because I am smarter than you. I have more truth.”
It was confounding, this logic of his.
“The reason my song is new to you, Tanis, is because Elyon doesn’t want you to hear it. And why? Because it will give you the same knowledge that I have. It will give you too much power. Power comes with the truth; you already know that.”
“Yes. But I won’t have you talking about Elyon like this.” Tanis jabbed his stick forward. “I should stick you through now and be done with this.”
“Go ahead. Try it.”
“I might, but I’m not here for battle. I’m here to learn the truth.”
“Well, then. I can show it to you.” Teeleh pulled a yellow fruit from behind his back. “There is in this fruit some knowledge. Power. Enough power to make all the creatures behind me cringe. Wouldn’t you like that? One word from you, and they will squeal in pain. Because they will know you have the truth, and with that truth comes great power. Here, try it.”
“No, I can’t eat your fruit.”
“Then you don’t want the truth?”
“Yes, but—”
“Is it forbidden to eat this fruit?”
“No.”
“Of course not. If there was harm in eating this fruit, Elyon would have forbidden it! But there is no harm, so it is not forbidden. There is only knowledge and power. Take it.”
Tanis glanced back at the colored forest. What the bat said was true. There was no harm in eating the fruit. There was no evil in it. It wasn’t forbidden.
“Just one bite,” Teeleh said. “If you find that what I’ve said isn’t true, then leave. But you owe it to yourself to at least try it. Hmm? Don’t you think?” The large beast made no effort to hide his talons, which tapped impatiently on the wood bridge.
Tanis looked past the large black bat and hesitated. “Well, you know I won’t drink any of your water.”
“Heavens no! Just the fruit. A gift of truth from me to you.”
Tanis held the colored stick firmly and stepped forward to take the fruit.
“Keep the wood to your side, if you don’t mind,” Teeleh said. “It is the color of deception, and it doesn’t sit well with my truth.”
Tanis stopped. “See, I already have the power. Why do I need yours?”
“Go ahead, wave it at my subjects and see how much power you have.”
Tanis glanced at the throngs behind Teeleh. He motioned at them with the sword, but none so much as flinched.
“You see? How can you compare your power to mine, unless you first know? Know your enemy. Know his fruit. Taste what Elyon himself has invited you to taste by not forbidding it. Just keep your stick at your side so that it doesn’t touch me.”
Tanis now wanted very much to try this mysterious yellow fruit in Teeleh’s claw. He lowered the sword to his side, ready to use it at a moment’s notice, stepped forward, and took the fruit. It felt daring, but he was a warrior, and to defeat this enemy he had to employ his own trickery.
He stepped back, just out of Teeleh’s reach, and bit into the fruit. Immediately his world swam in stunning color. Power surged through his blood, and his mind felt numb.
“Do you feel the power?”
“It’s . . . it’s quite strong,” Tanis said. He took another bite.
“Now, raise your hand and command my legions.”
Tanis looked at the black bats that lined the trees. “Now?”
“Yes. Use your new power.”
Tanis lifted an unsteady hand. Without a single word, the Shata
iki began to shriek and turn away. The sound made him cringe. Terror swept through their ranks. This with a single outstretched arm.
“You see? Lower your arm before you destroy my army.”
Tanis lowered his arm.
“Can I take this fruit with me?”
“No. Please hand it back.”
Tanis did so, though somewhat reluctantly. The Shataiki continued their ruckus.
“Not to worry, my friend. I have another fruit. More truth. More power. This one will open your mind to the forbidden truth. That is the truth only the wise ones possess. You can’t command armies with power alone. You must have the mind to lead. This fruit will show it to you.”
Tanis knew he should leave, but there was no law forbidding even this.
“It’s the same fruit your friend Thomas ate,” Teeleh said.
Tanis looked up, shocked. “Thomas ate your fruit?”
“Of course. It’s why he’s so wise. And he knows the histories because he drank my water. Thomas has the knowledge.”
The revelation made Tanis dizzy. That was how Thomas knew the histories. He reached out his hand.
“No, for this fruit you must put your sword on the railing here, on my side of the bridge. I can’t touch it, of course. But you must hold this fruit with both hands.”
The bat’s reasoning sounded very strange, but then Tanis’s mind wasn’t entirely clear. As long as the sword was right there where he could grab it if needed, what harm would there be in setting it down? If anything, it put a greater barrier between him and the bat.
Tanis stepped forward and set the stick on the railing. Then he reached both hands for the fruit in Teeleh’s outstretched claw.
When they broke from the forest, Tanis already stood before the horrid beast, like a dumb sheep bleating to its butcher. Thomas skidded to a halt. Michal landed on a branch to his right.
“Michal!” Thomas rasped.
“We’re too late!” the Roush said. “Too late!”
“He’s still talking!”
“Tanis will decide.”
“What?”
Thomas turned back to the scene before him. Thomas stood frozen by the moment. He could barely hear his friend’s voice above the shrieking bats.
