Beyond the Forest

by Kay L. Ling

  Looking down at the lapis in her hand, she stiffened. Where had those thoughts come from? She needed the rat-boys? They should stay? The dark blue stones flecked with gold felt unusually warm. Lapis Lazuli: strengthens total awareness, creativity, ESP, helps to expand viewpoint. She hadn’t been consciously drawing their power, but she had been thinking about the rats. Were these stones impressing on her that she should keep the rats a while longer? That three heads were better than one?

  Shortly after five she left the store. Maybe she had lost her mind, but she would keep Greg and Jordy for now. To be perfectly fair, they had already been helpful. They had identified the alamaria stone, and maybe they knew other useful things. She stopped at the grocery store and bought food for the week. Fortunately, Greg and Jordy were happy with rat chow and table scraps.

  When she walked into her apartment she found them sprawled on the couch in front of the TV, fast asleep. She turned off the TV and they woke with a start.

  “Hey, I was watching that,” Greg protested sleepily.

  She smiled. Her dad used to say the same thing when she found him “watching TV” asleep in his recliner. She looked around. No messes. Good.

  “Did you have a good day? Where do you work?” Greg asked.

  “At the family jewelry store,” she answered on her way to the kitchen with the groceries, “And yes, I had a good day. Thanks.” She put everything away and made a big salad topped with diced chicken. As before, Greg and Jordy joined her at the table.

  “After dinner I need to read. I can’t have any interruptions, okay?”

  “Okay, we understand,” Greg said, sounding disappointed.

  Compared to Shadowglade there wasn’t much for them to do, and her apartment was small, especially after living in a castle. They couldn’t explore, forage, and spy. The novelty of living here, even with TV, would wear off soon. They’d need fresh air, exercise, and something to do, but she didn’t want to think about that now.

  After dinner she turned on the radio, found a channel they liked, and escaped to her bedroom. She could finally relax and take another look at her treasures. Sliding the satchel out from under the bed, she emptied its contents onto the bedspread.

  Last night she had skimmed through everything. The hodge-podge of information was confusing, but she was starting to piece together Elias’s story and how Jules fit in. She understood why the letters had been separated into two groups. Not only had Elias saved all of Jules’s letters, he had made hand-copied duplicates of his own replies. The ledger was also a duplicate, given to Jules for safekeeping, in case anything happened to the original. Apparently Elias shared her obsession for keeping records, she thought with a grin.

  She slid onto the bed, got comfortable, and arranged her treasures around her. The ledger smelled musty, so she laid it on the nightstand. It held a wealth of information about gemstones, and she planned to read every word.

  Jules’s mysterious comment about pitying both men still circled in her head, and she hoped that by the end of the night she’d understand what he meant. Most likely he was trying to say that eventually both men had traveled to Shadow, and they had gotten in over their heads. Shadow held dangers that few people could handle, even with gem powers.

  Propped up against her pillows, she thumbed through the loose notes and drawings. Jules had made the drawings, and last night she had found a sketch of the Challenger’s blade and a letter about it. She looked for the sketch again, found it and studied it briefly, and then reread the letter.

  Elias,

  After our last conversation, I have been thinking about making an object that incorporates some of the most powerful gemstones. As a blacksmith, I find myself intrigued by the idea of fashioning a knife. Not only would I set gems into the hilt, I would incorporate them into the blade itself. I plan to grind the gemstones and mix them into the steel. I believe that blending the stones will affect the way they perform, and I am anxious to see what occurs. Placing the blade into a hilt inlaid with gems should amplify the blade’s power. It should prove a fascinating experiment. This would surely sound like madness to anyone but you, my dear friend and mentor.

  Very Truly Yours,

  Jules DeLauretin

  This letter explained the cryptic note that Jules had written to Elias—the note with the list of gemstones.

  Jules’s letters explained a lot of things she had wondered about, like how he had gotten involved with Elias. They had gotten to know each other through their local Odd Fellows Lodge. When Jules learned that Elias was a jeweler, and that they shared an interest in gemstone folklore, they struck up a friendship. Eventually Jules shared his theory that combining stones could change or enhance their powers. Was this a new concept for Elias? Lana wasn’t sure, but last night she had seen gemstone groupings in Elias’s ledger, so he had probably experimented with gem combinations.

  Some gemstones in Elias’s ledger were obviously Shadow stones because he used the phrase, gemstones from the other side. She began to think in terms of Fair Lands gems and Shadow gems. According to Elias, combining Fair Lands gems and Shadow gemstones sometimes produced unpredictable results. He also noted that the results of his Shadow gemstone experiments differed according to which side he was on when he conducted the experiments. That was a fascinating concept.

  Unless things had changed between his time and hers, Elias couldn’t take specimens outside the Amulet, but as far as she knew, experiments within the Amulet would demonstrate what happened on our side.

  She tilted her head back against the pillows, thinking. Alamaria had felt strange to her and also to Greg and Jordy when they were boys. But in their rat-forms, in Shadow, alamaria had felt like any other stone. Why? Because they were rats, or because they were on the other side? Now that Greg and Jordy were rats again, she could take them to the park, dig up the stone, and conduct her own experiment. But that would only answer one question, and a few others came to mind. Was the numb sensation the only characteristic that changed between worlds? Could Alamaria have completely different properties here on our side? Who had carried the alamaria into County Forest Park? And why?

  She shut her eyes for a moment, feeling a little overwhelmed. If she hoped to make sense of the information, she needed to read systematically. First she would finish her “reread” pile. Then she would read Jules’s letters from start to finish, followed by Elias’s replies. She sighed. Impatience had always been one of her weaknesses—a weakness she fought, because it often got her into trouble.

  Reading Jules’s letters in order proved enlightening. His first letters were cheerful and enthusiastic. Like her, Jules had been amazed to learn that Fair Lands gems had far greater powers in Shadow. He told Elias to take the jeweled knife and compare its abilities in both worlds. Both men were stunned by the exponential increase of the knife’s powers in Shadow. Jules wanted to know whether mixing ground gems into the steel blade had anything to do with it, or if it was all due to the gems in the hilt. To find out, Elias conducted additional experiments using a group of loose stones. The knife out-performed the stones. Jules wrote:

  I am delighted to learn that my knife’s unusual abilities are due to its unique construction. I dreamed one night of creating a gem-infused steel blade. When I woke, I gave it some thought and decided to try it. It was a logical next step to set the gem-blade into a gem-hilt.

  My father and grandfather were both blacksmiths, so despite it being a dying trade, my father expected me to continue the tradition. If I followed my heart I might be your apprentice. I have always loved gemstones and their folklore. As a boy, tales of medieval knights and ladies and their weaponry, ornaments, and jewelry captivated me.

  After a few letters, Jules didn’t sound so enthusiastic. Apparently, Elias had written more about the world on the other side and Jules found the description alarming.

  I could never sleep a wink in such a place as you describe! Poisonous plants, grotesque malformed insects and flying serpents! Could Hell itself be any mo
re frightful?

  Jules seemed even more troubled by his friend’s obvious disregard of the danger. Lana could see why. Most people would be uncomfortable in this diseased and dying land, but the destruction, the mutant insects, and the poisonous plants didn’t faze Elias. As weeks turned into months, and Elias’s letters came less frequently, Jules wrote:

  Since I haven’t heard from you in quite some time, I stopped at your store the other day, hoping to see you. Your note on the door advised: ‘Back on Thursday.’ Forgive me for meddling, Elias, but people say your boy spends a great deal of time with relatives and neighbors while you are away, and he has become wild and undisciplined.

  Elias was just as wild and undisciplined, she thought irritably, only in a different way. He had set up a “study” inside a cave a few miles from the portal, and she was disturbed to read that he had enlisted gnomes to wait on him and gather specimens for him to study. How did the gnomes benefit from the arrangement? They didn’t. Jules wrote with evident sarcasm:

  I thought it was your aim to help the inhabitants, but it appears I misunderstood. The small people serve your every need and bring you gem and mineral samples so that you can devote every moment to your ledger. These gentle beings need your help. Will you ever have time for them?

  In another letter, it was obvious that Jules was worried about Elias. Elias had stopped experimenting with Fair Lands gems and was studying native stones, many with disturbing powers. Jules understood his friend’s quest for knowledge, but was appalled that Elias would keep experimenting with stones that had harmful properties.

  It is impossible to know the long-term effects of using gemstones from another world. Even if they were all benign there would be risks, but many are clearly dangerous. You wrote about a mottled red stone that filled you with blind rage and gave you the strength of three men. You told me that another stone made plants shrivel within a radius of several feet. I would avoid stones that bring out adverse emotions or have destructive effects. No good can come of them, and I shudder to think what mayhem combining such dangerous stones might produce.

  Jules’s warning fell on deaf ears, as she expected it would. In his next response to Elias, Jules reprimanded Elias for using the gnomes as test subjects. Elias had found stones that made him a conduit of negative emotions. Anyone with the misfortune to stand near him suffered from insecurity, jealousy, discouragement, depression, hatred, paranoia, or other such destructive emotions. “The small ones,” as Jules and Elias called them, found the tests disturbing and reported feeling ill for days afterward, but Elias insisted that his research was necessary, and threatened to hand them over to Sheamathan if they refused to cooperate. Jules condemned him in no uncertain terms:

  No benefits from these stones can ever justify tormenting these poor creatures that have suffered so much already. How are you any better than the woodspirit? Your motives may be better, but you are no less a monster in their eyes.

  Lana wasn’t sure which disturbed her more, the idea that negative energy stones existed, or that Elias would threaten the gnomes to undergo his experiments. To the best of her knowledge, our world didn’t have gems with negative powers. Fair Lands gems relieved stress, promoted emotional balance, and even brought happiness and love. Had the negative energy stones always produced unpleasant characteristics, or had Sheamathan corrupted their previously helpful powers? Either way, she could think of few legitimate uses for such stones. Elias should steer clear of them.

  She didn’t realize Elias still had Jules’s knife until she found a letter asking when Elias planned to return it.

  In your last letter you promised to visit me. It has been far too long since we met in person. I hope you are coming soon. Quite frankly, I would like you to return my knife. When I displayed it in my shop it generated several sales. Few things give me as much pleasure as crafting a knife. I make all too many fence gates and such, so I am pleased to receive requests for knives and daggers. I make a few for myself when time permits but it is better to be paid for my efforts.

  With each letter their friendship seemed more strained, and she doubted they could reconcile their differences. She found herself siding with Jules, and although it bothered her to turn against her ancestor, she couldn’t help herself. She was glad Jules stood by his principles and opposed Elias. If only more people had such courage.

  One of Jules’s letters openly condemned his friend’s single-minded ambition:

  You excuse your obsession with power by telling yourself that you will become the most powerful being, and when you are in control you can right all the wrongs. In the meantime you exploit the small ones and do nothing to help them.

  No good could come from Elias’s obsession with power. She felt certain of it. Jules’s final letter not only confirmed her opinion, it gave a clue to Elias’s disappearance from the Fair Lands. At the bottom of the second page Jules wrote:

  What price are you willing to pay for power? Don’t be a fool. You write that gems from our world have become hot to your touch. Surely you know what that means. Before long, you will be trapped on the other side.

  Yes, her ancestor was a fool! She felt like throwing the letter across the room. Her theory was right! If you immersed yourself in Shadow gem powers, Fair Lands gems would begin to react as if you were a native. If you were a good person, you had nothing to worry about, but Elias had become corrupt and obsessed with power, hurting others to advance his own goals. In the end, it had separated him from his son. She fumed silently. Jules had thought she’d read this story and feel sorry for Elias? Hardly! She despised Elias, relative or not!

  Before she realized what she was doing she had crumpled the letter without reading the last page. Elias would never help the gnomes, she realized, disgusted. No wonder Jules had stepped in. Elias, idiot that he was, had lost the ability to touch Fair Lands gems, which had been his only real advantage over the woodspirit. Limited to Shadow gemstones, he was no match for Sheamathan who had far more knowledge and experience. Taking a deep breath, Lana smoothed the crumpled paper and forced herself to read the last page.

  Thanks to you, Sheamathan has followed her breghlin scouts through the portal to spread death and destruction. You foolishly told her that few people in our world command gem powers. Now she believes that humans are weak and easily dominated. It falls to me to help the gnomes and stop Sheamathan. The woodspirit’s destructive forest blight serves to expand the Amulet, which gives her greater access to our world. I must act quickly while she knows little about me or my abilities. You have written that even with my blade I am no match for her. No doubt that is true, and while greater powers might be mine if I used gems from the other side, I refuse to do so. Dare I say, if you are any indication, the hazards outweigh the benefits. I shall meet her with only my knife and other Fair Lands gems.

  Jules had been willing to fight a nearly impossible battle. Most people would have walked away and told themselves not to get involved. She wished Jules were her ancestor instead of the detestable Elias.

  Would she be just as angry when she finished reading Elias’s letters? Could he say anything to redeem himself? She read his first letter slowly, trying to keep an open mind. Whatever kind of person he was, at least he was interesting. She read his first letter twice. It told how he had learned that County Forest Park was an unusual place, and how testing Jules’s newly completed knife at the park had led to discovering the portal.

  The first time he had gone to County Forest Park, he had gone to hike and fish. He took jasper to protect him from snake and spider bites, chrysocolla to give him intuition to know where the fish were biting, and rhodochrosite to improve his eyesight so he could better enjoy the park’s beauty.

  He walked the trails and discovered, much to his amazement, that for the first time in twenty years he could see quite well without his glasses. He had a wonderful day and caught so many fish he released all but three. Other fishermen were envious of his success. Certainly this was an extraordinary place, he wrote,
and he was anxious to return with other gems.

  On his second visit, despite a troublesome day at the store, his hematite dispelled all his negative thoughts. The chrysocolla relieved his arthritis, and his sugalite filled him with such an intense feeling of well-being that he caught himself whistling a popular tune—one he didn’t even like. He was convinced that the park was a strange, mystical place. Henceforth, he would conduct any important gem tests at the park.

  While testing the knife, hoping to learn whether this combination of gems amplified the stones’ known properties or created any that were unexpected, he discovered the hideous savage creatures, the small people, and the existence of a portal to another world. Naturally, Elias could only share this bizarre story with one person—Jules.

  Elias wrote:

  The knife enabled me to discern areas of the forest that produced unexplained anomalies. I felt energy that made my hair stand on end, and occasionally the blade gave off static charges. Then it began to glow. I noticed that the needle in my compass swung wildly. At nightfall, the anomalies grew even more pronounced. Fascinated, I stayed past sundown and the knife’s powers became stronger. I was filled with strong emotions, chiefly a keen premonition of danger. Near midnight, the blade glowed brighter than before, and I heard noises in the woods. Through the trees I spied hideous creatures. At first I thought my eyes played tricks on me, but the savage brutes were all too real. I fled before they saw me, vowing I should never again step foot in that accursed place.

  Lana laughed, remembering her own experiences—her mixture of curiosity and fear. Of course, like her, Elias’s curiosity had overcome his fear. After a couple weeks he decided to go back.

  During my second trip, which took place after sunset, I met the gentle small ones. Perhaps the knife’s power drew them. I sensed they were not dangerous and that they meant me no harm. They said that the hideous creatures I had seen were evil, but had once been like themselves. My beautiful, unusual knife fascinated the small beings. They claimed that the hilt contained gems they had never seen, and that in their world gemstones had amazing powers. They assumed, after seeing the knife, that I had the ability to use their gems, and that I might become a valuable ally.