Talismans

by Lisa Lowell

  “You'll do fine,” Owailion assured her. “You have not made anything worse being here in the Land. You've only made things better.”

  Owailion saw the doubt still in her haunted eyes and added. “You've made me better. And look at all the deep spells you have developed. Here, I'll give you her true name so you can wake her.” He then conjured a little piece of paper and a stylus and wrote out Imzuli's true name that he had received from the Memories.

  Raimi looked at the little slip he held out to her with trepidation, but took it. Then she kissed Owailion passionately, to show her thankfulness for his support even though there was little he could actually do to help her. If she wanted to eventually face her character flaws and challenge her personal demons then she must deal with confrontation sometime. He overheard her telling herself that as she latched magically onto a tiny brook that ran off a glacier at the base of Imzuli's mountain and transferred herself there with a magical thought.

  Chapter 19 – Winning the Pipes

  Raimi realized as she looked up at the mountain that loomed above her, that she had never actually been to any of the mountains without a dragon escort. She felt like an invader. However, she recalled the gaping hole that she had seen in the Talisman bowl with this mountain gone and instead a Wise One's palace, with stunning gardens had grown here. That was another thing about which she needed to speak with Imzuli. How did you tell someone their home was going to disappear? That issue could be another nightmare all in itself.

  Raimi looked down at the little strip of paper Owailion had given her and then took a steadying breath. “Tethimzuliel? Wake up,” she commanded.

  At first the response wasn't even in words. Something in Raimi's mind sensed the dragon rolling over deep within the mountain, ignoring the call, or only disturbed by it. “Tethimzuliel, it's me, Raimi. I need to talk to you. Can I come in and see your cave?”

  “Raimi?” Imzuli's voice, heavy with sleep and confusion took concentration to hear. “You woke me. How long has it been?”

  “Only a few months, my friend. May I come in?” Raimi replied. Standing out on the mountainside did not seem like a good place to speak, not with ice and avalanches hanging above her in the early spring and the sudden feeling that listening ears would always haunt her and want to hear a name.

  In reply Imzuli reached out and abruptly pulled Raimi to her, bringing her into the cavern within the mountain. The human gasped at the sudden change of setting. The cave, lit by orbs like Owailion often used, seemed made of Imzuli's glittering hide; brightly polished silver. The smooth walls, completely free of stalactites or even rubble, felt like the inside of some chromed egg, and easily double the size of Imzuli herself who lounged in the middle like a queen on a throne, looking down at Raimi with her glittering silver eyes still adjusting to the light she had conjured.

  “I might not be a proper judge of human appearance,” Imzuli commented, “but you don't look well. Are you sick?”

  Raimi tried not to laugh. “That's exactly what Owailion said to me. No, I'm just having nightmares. Do you dream while you sleep?” she asked, suddenly curious now that the subject came up.

  “I do not think so. I do not understand the concept; a story or a vision while I sleep? No, I do not think I have dreamed, but then I have not been asleep for very long.”

  Awkwardly Raimi stalled. “You have a beautiful home here. I still do not have one, but I am with Owailion so that is good. That is one of the things that brought me here to speak with you and I do not know how to say this without hurting you, my friend. Owailion has found one of the Wise One's palaces is supposed to be built…built where your mountain is located.”

  Imzuli blinked in surprise but said nothing. In typical dragon fashion, the shields over her mind slammed into place so she could do her thinking in private, but there was nothing to say. “He knows this?” the dragon eventually asked.

  To help her friend understand Raimi gathered a slower, shorter version of the bowl vision and then shared it so that the dragon could see the images that passed over the Great Chain. Imzuli would recognize the mountains she knew so well by shape and size and then when the missing mountain came into view Raimi brought the visuals down directly into the valley that had been formed. They both saw the details of waterfalls feeding a tropical paradise where before a glorious mountain had once sat. Flowers of hundreds of species littered the twisting walkways that filled the valley. The palace at the bottom of the dell appeared to be a series of columns with low roof lines carved in marble rather than high walled and enclosed like all the other palaces had been before, but it was unmistakable: a Wise One's palace.

  “I'm sorry,” was the only thing Raimi could think of saying.

  “Do you know how this change will happen?” the dragon asked tonelessly.

  Raimi shook her head, but then remembered that dragons rarely could interpret body language. “As long as the mountain is there, we would not even think of building it here, no matter what God says about it. Owailion has two finished palaces, but he has eight others under construction, several not started and three he has yet to even find. He has plenty to think about and we will not disturb you about it…except. We just wanted to ask if you could move somewhere else to sleep; Jonjonel, for example. We have foreseen many terrible changes in the Land that we cannot account for and we would hate for you to be harmed by something unexpected. Will you move so if…when something makes your mountain disappear, that you don't disappear with it. That would be a worse tragedy.”

  Imzuli did not answer for the longest time. She was thinking deeply, again behind her shields, with her silvery eyes closed in concentration. Raimi had no idea what kind of bond and devotion a dragon might hold with their home mountain, but it had to be strong. The only thing a human might have to compare might be family. Could a dragon even survive moving to another mountain? Dragons were not like her, always moving on, living in a tent and even immigrating to another land. For Raimi it would be easy to leave her home, but she knew enough to recognize that for a dragon, even one as young and open minded as Imzuli, it would never be an easy decision.

  Instinctively Raimi reached out and caressed Imzuli on the arm, as if touch would cure the problem. The dragon's eyes flashed open and she looked down at her friend. “I will have to think about this…if I can stay awake long enough to give it my whole concentration. But this news is not the reason why you have come to talk to me.”

  Raimi looked down in trepidation. “No, there are other things…in addition to the pipes that I know you have for me. The trial for me to win the pipes is bringing such difficult things into the light. Imzuli, we know you sold the rune stones to an outlander sorcerer. We just could not understand why.”

  Imzuli grumbled audibly and scooted back so she could lay down with her head at Raimi's level, her silver eyes glittering in the magical lights. Could a dragon's face express shame? Imzuli's silver eyes welled up like mercury and caught flashes from the lights above. The usually blinding white of her hide dulled to almost gray and the tip of her tail began to twitch slightly. It took time but eventually the dragon explained.

  “That was the most foolish thing I've done in my life,” Imzuli admitted. “Have you ever done something you knew was wrong even as you did it, just because you were curious? I have always been fascinated with the idea of humans, like Mohan is. I learned about the concept of writing from looking at those stones.”

  The dragon sighed gustily and the scent of her sulfurous breath blew around Raimi's skirts. “You see, I have known humans were coming all my life. I was hatched about the same time the prophesy of the Sleep was given and Mohan made sure I understood that humans were coming to take the stewardship over the Land. I knew my time awake would be limited so I wanted to experience as much as I could in the short time I was given. I went out and visited other lands as soon as I was old enough to fly there and I saw much of how humans live. I saw bargaining and trade. I saw what writing could do and music and dance and I wanted
… I wanted to be a little like a human. Is that foolishness, yes? I have learned more in just six months being your friend than I did in ninety years of exploring other lands. But I made that bargain because I wanted to see how trading worked and the meaning of the words on the stones. I knew they were not mine to give. And then when Owailion discovered the stones were gone and it was too late to return the stones …and I was too embarrassed to admit my mistake.”

  Raimi looked with compassion at the gleaming dragon and realized she could forgive Imzuli's foolishness without a thought. “I'm only six months old, remember. I've done foolish things as well. We all do things we regret. I came to the Land with a feeling that I damage anything in which I get involved. At first I was unwilling to marry Owailion because I was afraid I would mess that up too, somehow hurting him. There's an old saying; 'I'm only human', and it means we all make mistakes. But it also applies to you, Imzuli. You're only human.”

  The dragon chuckled, which came out as a soothing rumble that made the whole cavern echo and the lights tremble in the air. “I would like to be a human, but I am evil to wish for it and I cannot do evil.”

  “Is that why you were so eager to hunt that demon that came from Zema?” Raimi asked now that all had been resolved. The dragon dropped her jaw again and rumbled in the positive. “I should have revealed the truth earlier. I knew all about Zema except there was no proof. I had hoped that the writing on the stones would explain how to stop the demons from coming. But I was wrong. You know what the stones say, don't you?”

  “Yes, and nothing was lost that we cannot learn for ourselves.”

  “That is good, for I withheld what I had learned from the Memories that I gave to Owailion. I am ashamed of that as well. Will you forgive me?”

  Raimi did not hesitate. She reached out and gave an enthusiastic, very human hug to the dragon's snout, about the only thing she could wrap her arms around. “Forgiven.” Then she doggedly went on to the next subject she needed to broach. “For a time we were concerned that if you were willing to take something that did not belong to you to sell it, you might take something else to sell as well. My name.”

  That brought Imzuli's head up quickly in alarm. “That sorcerer did offer me a chance to not go to sleep in exchange for something but he did not suggest your name. That would have been truly evil and I might have roasted him just for suggesting it. I did not have anything else to sell and it would have been so wrong I would have lost my soul. No, going to sleep is the right path for me. I will have other adventures someday.”

  “I am glad of that,” Raimi replied, feeling much better for her friend. “Please think about moving to Jonjonel. I'm worried for you.”

  “I will think on it.” Then the dragon blinked her silver eyes meaningfully, drawing out the next question with a human inflection. “But is this really what you came to speak with me about?”

  “Oh yes, the pipes.”

  Imzuli did not demand anything of her friend in exchange for the pipes. She had placed them inside one of the glowing globes that hovered above their heads near the ceiling of the cavern. The dragon brought the light down with a magical nudge and placed it into Raimi's outstretched hands where it popped like a soap bubble and the human caught them.

  “They're beautiful,” Raimi whispered, turning the glossy set of reeds over to see the decoration, gold and silver inlay all across the set.

  “What do they do? Owailion said they were not his to explain,” Imzuli's enthusiastic curiosity had returned.

  “Owailion did not know…well, generally reeds make music but since these are a Talisman they will also have another purpose, a magical ability like my bowl can show me the past. Should I play them?”

  “Yes please,” Imzuli almost giggled and then added with belated caution. “Will they do something harmful? Can you even play a song?”

  Raimi knew instinctively that she could play because this was her Talisman; meant to invoke magic for her just as the bowl could but she feared its effect. The bowl, while amazing in its capabilities also brought sorrow in profound ways. Carefully Raimi closed her eyes to concentrate and abandon herself to the impulses that would come with the reeds. She didn't actively participate in what she was about to do. This was an automatic reflex. The song flowed easily. A sweet, mournful and yet charming tune emerged from the pipes and she felt its magic caress her mind and body like a refreshing shower under a waterfall. It washed something away from her heart and she felt new. It was as if the sun appeared in the middle of the night.

  “Oh,” she gasped and stopped playing in sudden terror.

  “Raimi? What are you doing here?” Imzuli asked in a bewildered tone. Could she not remember the conversation that she had just been having?

  “Imzuli, something terrible has happened. I was…I was playing the pipes.…I remember.”

  “I don't remember giving them to you. Did I fall asleep and you wakened me?”

  The dragon had forgotten and Raimi had just remembered.

  Raimi began to weep. She was cursed, as she had suspected. It would all go wrong as she had feared. “Imzuli, this is horrible. I gave my Heart Stone to an outlander sorcerer!” she almost shrieked. Something in Raimi broke open like a dam burst and she snatched at her bag, seeking her Heart Stone or her bowl, anything that might help.

  “Raimi?” Owailion's mind voice broke into her concentration. “You're frantic. What's wrong?”

  Owailion had sensed her abrupt panic through their love link clear across the continent and Raimi couldn't seem to think straight enough to give him a logical answer. She had none to give. Owailion's mind washed through hers toward Imzuli. The dragon expressed confusion but without reflecting Raimi's panic. Thankfully he didn't wait; Owailion shifted directly into the dragon's lair, with or without her permission and saw Raimi sitting at the dragon's feet, weeping and hysterical, struggling to get the bowl out of her bag with the pipes tossed aside. He looked up at Imzuli to see if she was the source of his wife's fear, but the dragon looked dumbfounded.

  “What happened?” he asked of either of them even as he knelt right in front of Raimi and took her bag from her. With much calmer hands he found her bowl inside and held it, not letting Raimi touch it. He magically filled it with conjured water and then whispered, “Show me what has just happened to make Raimi so frightened.”

  He could sense both his wife and the dragon looking over his shoulder to see the reflection in the vessel. They all three watched in the bowl as Raimi pressed the pipes to her lips, played a tune and he saw her reaction. The dragon had forgotten the previous hour of conversation and Raimi had abruptly remembered giving away her Heart Stone? How could this happen? Owailion dropped the bowl and took Raimi by the shoulders to try and calm her.

  “When did you give your Heart Stone to an outlander?” he asked in fear though he remained as calm as possible just because he knew it would do little good to add his fear to hers.

  “In the nightmares. The pipes…” she almost babbled, trying to get half phrases out to make herself understood. “He told me to forget. The pipes…they make you remember.”

  “Or forget,” Imzuli provided helpfully. “I don't remember her arriving here. Can the bowl show us what happened in a nightmare?”

  “Let us hope so,” Owailion replied to Imzuli's suggestion. He picked up the bowl, refilled it and then carefully worded his request. “Show me the nightmares Raimi has been having.”

  The bowl obediently tapped into one of the visuals of what actually had gone on behind Raimi's eyes while she slept. Now they all could understand why she would have not remembered her dreams. She had been ordered to forget them. With name magic.

  “That's the…I know that outlander,” Imzuli commented even as she looked down into the bowl and saw the ship that had invaded Raimi's dreams. Could there be any doubt that there would be two identical ships with powerful sorcerer's aboard? Imzuli lowered her head, awash in embarrassment that she had any dealings with the man and her anger grew. �
�He goes by the name Stylmach. That is the ship that he uses to move around the Land but he speaks the language of Malornia…to the west.”

  “How…how did he get my name?” Raimi shuddered even as the dream vision faded and she began to try to get herself back under control. “You said you did not sell my name.”

  Imzuli looked confused again. “How did you know…when did I tell you that?”

  “Just now,” Raimi tried to explain. “I came here to ask you about it and to beg you to move to Jonjonel. Do you not remember any of that conversation?”

  “No, I do not remember…Can that bowl show me what I have forgotten?”

  “Let's try. I need to see everything that has gone on here,” Owailion commented. He picked up the bowl, filled it a third time and then ordered, “Show us everything that has gone on here in this cavern since Raimi arrived.”

  Raimi had not forgotten what happened during the interaction she had held with Imzuli so while Owailion and the dragon reviewed the conversation and the winning of the pipes, so she methodically thought through all the things she might have revealed to this Stylmach.

  “Since I gave him my Heart Stone, he probably knows I'm a Wise One,” she admitted aloud after their review. “I probably told him about all that entails; the Seal, the Sleep and all my powers. I might have told him why we wanted the stones and that there will be more Wise Ones and our affinities. Oh, this is awful. My curse has ruined us all.”

  “You do not have a curse,” Owailion interrupted her grim list. “But we do have a problem and need to plan.”

  Raimi sighed and tried to regroup her thoughts. “If he was a real person, not a dream, then Stylmach can be made to forget my name, can't he? That is why maybe I have been given a Talisman of forgetfulness.”

  “It seems like our best hope. You must get back your Heart Stone, or he may make you do something worse,” warned Imzuli.