The Jasper Forest

by Julia Gray

  'What's going on?' she whispered. 'What does he want?' 'He hasn't said anything yet,' Terrel replied.

  By then, everyone had stopped whatever they were doing and were waiting, looking up at the janizar. Having got the villagers' attention, Yahn seemed in no hurry to explain his presence. He looked around, a small contemptuous smile on his face.

  'I warned you people!' he shouted eventually, his bulllike voice carrying easily over the sound of running water. 'But you couldn't leave well alone.'

  No one knew what he was talking about until the soldiers behind him parted ranks, and a bedraggled figure was pushed forward.

  'We fished this young fool out of the Demon's Cauldron last night,' Yahn told them. 'I'm not sure whether he was trying to hide from us, or to steal some of the king's treasure, but that's not important. He has paid for his trespassing.'

  Cardos stood, eyes downcast and hands bound, saying nothing. The matted blood in his hair and clothes, and the livid bruises on his face and arms, were testament to just how he had 'paid' for his crime. He swayed on his feet, as if he might fall at any moment, and seemed quite unaware of what was going on about him.

  'I am a merciful man,' Yahn went on, 'so I'm going to let this vermin live.

  But the next one who tries anything so stupid will not meet with such leniency. I suggest you learn from his example.'

  So saying, the janizar lashed out, landing a backhanded blow with his mail-clad fist in the centre of the prisoner's face. The gesture seemed almost casual, but fresh blood gushed from Cardos's ruined nose as he fell back into the arms of the guards who had been standing behind him. A few of the watching villagers gasped, but

  most remained silent, their eyes burning with horror and anger.

  'You can have him back now,' Yahn said, signalling to his men.

  The soldiers took a step forward, dragging Cardos with them, and then pitched him over the edge of the platform and onto the rough slope that lay to one side of the small cliff. His unconscious body tumbled awkwardly down the steep bank, and came to rest in a crumpled heap next to the pool. He lay quite still, and for a few moments no one else moved either.

  'Don't you have a healer among you?' Yahn asked sarcastically. 'I think he could do with a bit of help!'

  Terrel was about to step forward, but Ysatel's hand on his arm held him back.

  'I don't like this,' she whispered. 'Why aren't the soldiers going?'

  Terrel turned and saw the anxiety in her eyes. He had long since learnt to trust Ysatel, to listen to what she said, but this seemed to be something he had to do. If he couldn't use his talent to help someone like Cardos, what was the point of having it in the first place? He was about to say as much to her when he saw that it was too late. Davi had already set off, guiding Talker to the stricken man.

  'Let them do this,' Ysatel hissed urgently. 'Stay where you are.'

  Reluctantly, he did as he was told, and watched the latest act in the drama unfold. As Davi and Talker reached their patient and knelt beside him, Terrel became aware that some of the soldiers were laughing.

  'This is your healer?' Yahn exclaimed, looking down in astonishment.

  Talker was now touching one of Cardos's bloodied hands, and he and Davi exchanged a few quiet words.

  'Hey, Killian!' the janizar called. 'What are you doing?'

  At the sound of what was evidently his real name, Talker turned his face towards the sound.

  'Darkness laughing,' he said clearly. 'Wings come.'

  'I see that rockfall's robbed you of more than your sight,' Yahn remarked.

  Talker turned his attention back to the injured man.

  'What's he talking about?' Yahn shouted.

  No one answered him.

  'Boy!' he yelled, then waited until Davi glanced up at him. 'Is he really a healer?'

  'Yes he is!' Davi replied, fiercely indignant.

  Cardos's eyes fluttered open, and he groaned weakly.

  'So I see,' Yahn said thoughtfully.

  At a signal from the janizar, four soldiers set off down the slope, leaping nimbly from rock to rock, and before anyone could react they had reached Talker and hauled him to his feet. Although the healer looked bewildered, he didn't struggle, and it was left to Davi to put up any resistance. The boy flailed ineffectually at one of the guards, who swatted him away like a troublesome insect. Davi fell to the ground but jumped up again almost immediately.

  'Leave him alone!' he cried, as the men who held Talker's arms began to drag him away. 'He's blind! I'm the only one who understands him. He can't do anything without me.'

  'Very well then,' Yahn replied calmly. 'We'll take you too.'

  Until that moment, the villagers below had all been watching the scene in frozen silence. Now, as another soldier grabbed Davi and swung him onto his shoulder, there was sudden movement. Erena ran forward, her voice locked in a continuous high-pitched wail - the most desolate, desperate sound Terrel had ever heard.

  'They'll kill her,' Ysatel breathed.

  'We have to do something!' Terrel said, but he was trapped by the same paralysis that gripped the rest of the onlookers.

  By the time Erena reached the bottom of the steep slope, the soldiers were almost at the top, but she did not give up the chase, scrambling over the boulders like a frightened mountain goat. Seeing her, Davi stretched out his arms in mute appeal.

  Ysatel looked around desperately, but no one else -not even Frasu — was moving.

  'Come on,' she said. 'We can't let her do this alone.'

  'No!' Terrel exclaimed. 'You should—'

  She brushed him aside and set off in pursuit. Terrel went after her, only to stumble as his twisted foot caught on the side of a large stone. He fell heavily, winding himself, and lay there, gasping for breath and trying to ignore the shooting pains in his legs. When he was able to look up, the soldiers had regained the platform, but Erena was almost there too. She was sobbing now, crying out incoherently in answer to her son's calls for help.

  The fourth soldier glanced at his commander, who simply nodded and made a flicking gesture with his hand, as if to say 'Get rid of her'. The guard turned to face the woman, while his colleagues went on with their new prisoners, rejoining the main party and heading up the slope towards the gate. Yahn remained where he was, coolly regarding the entire scene.

  The soldier had not drawn his sword - either because he felt it beneath him to use his blade on a woman, or because he had some scruples about doing so - and when she reached the ledge, he merely tried to shove her down again. However, he had underestimated the agility her desperation had granted her, and she twisted past him, leaving him waving at thin air, and ran on after her son.

  Yahn's intervention was swift and brutal, a lightning-fast blow that caught the side of Erena's head and sent her crashing to the ground. The janizar's face was set in an expression of disgust as he beckoned to the remaining guard and turned to head after his men. He had gone only a few paces before his ears were assailed by a second furious screaming. Ysatel flew at him like an avenging demon, and such was the speed and ferocity of her assault that he almost fell. As it was, he had to rely on one of his men to drag the attacker away, the two of them staggering backwards towards the cliff edge.

  Yahn glared at her, touching his cheek where her nails had drawn blood.

  'Throw her over,' he barked, then turned and stalked away again.

  Ysatel's charge had finally brought the rest of the villagers to life. Many of them were moving forward now, but when they saw the soldier spin round and thrust her over the edge of the precipice, they froze again. Time seemed to stand still as Ysatel appeared to hang suspended in midair for a long moment.

  Then movement and sound returned in a rush as she plunged towards the pool.

  'No!' Terrel screamed, his helpless denial echoed by the same cry from further away as Kerin - who had been working much further down river - tore along the western bank.

  The sunlight seemed to flicker and dim, and everyt
hing in Terrel's world became a blur. There was a deep rumbling noise, as if the mountain itself was growling, and he shook convulsively, as though there were sparks jumping in his blood. His legs would not move.

  Ysatel's body appeared limp as it fell, and she made no attempt to protect herself from the impact. She hit the water side on, with a clap of sound that echoed all around. The splash made a small explosion that glittered in the sunlight, and she disappeared below the surface.

  Terrel forced himself to hobble towards the pool, too numb and horrified to even think. At first he could only just see the roiling surface of the water, but as he climbed it became clear that Ysatel had not resurfaced, and his panic increased. He was vaguely aware that others were converging on the pool, of voices crying out, but nothing seemed real, nothing registered.

  In the next moment the whole world went mad.

  The pool exploded in a vast shimmering fountain of light and foam, scattering water for hundreds of paces in all directions, and hurling twisted flashes of spray far into the sky. And yet it all happened in total silence. The only sound came later, as the water fell back to earth, pattering on the ground as an impossible rain shower.

  The sudden jolt of finding himself soaked to the skin helped Terrel set aside his fear and amazement, and he stumbled on over the slippery ground until he came to the rim of the pool - where he was met with yet another incredible sight. The hollow in the rock was now

  completely dry. Not a single drop of water was left anywhere within its contours, and even the small waterfall that usually fed it was silent and dry.

  Ysatel lay - utterly still - at the bottom of the indentation, and Terrel threw himself down beside her. Her eyes were closed, but the expression on her face was impassive, almost serene, and he could see no obvious injuries. But that meant little. She was unconscious, and it was possible that she had sustained severe internal damage. Some distant part of Terrel's brain registered the fact that her clothes and hair were not even damp, but he concentrated on trying to find out if she was all right.

  When he took her hand, his sight began to blur again, as though an unnatural shadow had fallen over his eyes, and his heart began to pound wildly. His skin tingled uncomfortably.

  Ysatel's chest rose and fell almost imperceptibly, and her pulse was equally faint, but at least she was alive. Terrel closed his own eyes, and willed himself to use whatever healing talent he possessed. Moments later, he was moving in a different, invisible realm, exploring, reaching out . . . But she was beyond him. The joint dreams were still there, but they were muted now, almost hidden. He persevered, and knowledge came gradually, seeping into his consciousness with infinite slowness. Ysatel's lungs were clear, her heart had set a new pace but was still beating, her mind was distant but intact. She had no real need of his help, even if he had been able to offer any.

  'Ysy? Ysy!'

  Terrel opened his eyes at the sound of Kerin's voice, and saw that Ysatel's husband had joined him, kneeling at the other side of the unconscious woman, while a large group of villagers was crowding round the rim of the empty pool.

  'Is she all right?' Kerin was cradling Ysatel's other hand in his own.

  'Physically she's unharmed, and so is the baby.'

  'Thank the heavens,' Kerin sighed heavily. 'So how soon will she wake up?'

  'That I can't say.' Terrel knew now what had happened. He had seen it before, after all. 'But it may not be for some time,' he added with a heavy heart.

  'She's become a sleeper.'

  Chapter Twenty

  'Why did she do it?' Kerin asked. 'Why?' The hurt and bewilderment in his voice made Terrel's heart ache, and he wished he had the answers his friend was seeking.

  'I don't know,' he said miserably. He had not told Kerin of Ysatel's actions before the fateful encounter. He was already plagued by guilt over the fact that she had held him back, correctly suspecting the soldiers of treachery.

  And he still could not work out why she had been so anxious to protect him and risk Talker and Davi instead.

  'It's not just her,' Kerin went on. 'Although the moons know that's bad enough, but it's the baby too. She's wanted one for so long . . .' He ran out of words, and Terrel saw that he was fighting back tears.

  Terrel felt like crying himself, but knew that that would only make his friend feel worse. At least now they were alone, so that Kerin was able to let some of his emotions show. When they'd been in the empty pool, with so many people looking on, and when Kerin had carried his comatose wife back to their hut, he'd behaved with great stoicism, determined not to betray any sign of weakness. Terrel had been the only person he'd allowed inside with him, and the rest of the villagers had drifted away slowly, discussing the day's incredible events in low voices. Many of them did not know about the sleepers in the cave, so Terrel's diagnosis had not meant anything to them, but the few that did were grim-faced and silent.

  Ysatel now lay on Terrel's bed in the smaller of the hut's two rooms. Placing her there had been instinctive - it was where they went when there was illness to defeat. Her appearance had not changed, and neither had her condition. All Terrel's efforts had done was confirm that she was slipping further away from him.

  'What's happening to her?' Kerin asked quietly.

  'She's being protected,' he replied, offering the only crumb of comfort he could find. 'She won't come to any harm.'

  'How can you be sure of that?'

  Terrel had been struggling with the problem of how much to tell Kerin, but realized that he had to try to explain. He owed them that.

  'There are strange forces in the world, forces nobody understands,' he began,

  'but they're shielding Ysy from danger. If they weren't, don't you think she would've been hurt by her fall, or maybe even drowned? But the protection comes at a cost. I don't understand it, but I've seen it happen before.'

  For the first time since he'd laid his wife down, Kerin looked up and stared at Terrel.

  'Something similar happened to a friend of mine, back on Vadanis,' the boy said in answer to the unspoken question. 'She was being attacked, and was saved from certain death by a force no one could explain.'

  'And then she became a sleeper?'

  'Yes.' Terrel was tempted to tell Kerin that his wife might not be lost to him completely. Perhaps Ysatel would be able to return in a different guise, as Alyssa had done. But he said nothing, remembering that the only other sleeper he'd known who'd been able to do this was the seer Lathan — and then only after instruction from Elam. There was no guarantee that all sleepers were capable of such transmutations, and he did not want to raise Kerin's hopes unrealistically. And the poor man would probably think Terrel was quite mad if he tried to explain the process — unless Alyssa returned so that it could be demonstrated in action. Terrel desperately needed to talk to her - and Elam -

  in order to glean more information about Ysatel's condition. He also wanted to confirm his own suspicions about the elemental's involvement — even though the idea that it could affect events in Macul when the Floating Islands were so far away was hard to credit.

  Kerin's concerns were more immediate.

  'How long ago did that happen?' he asked.

  Terrel thought back, calculating.

  About nine months.'

  'Moons!' Kerin breathed. 'The baby . . . Your friend hasn't woken up yet?'

  'No.'

  'But she will, eventually?'

  'We have to believe that,' Terrel replied, wishing he could just have said

  'yes'. 'But there's no way of knowing when it'll be.'

  A look of horror replaced the pleading in Kerin's eyes.

  'The sleepers here have been like this for more than ten years. I could be an old man before Ysy wakes up.' He swallowed convulsively. 'And what about the baby? Could it survive that long?'

  'She's protected too. From what Farazin told me, it seems the people in the cave have aged very little in all the time they've been there. Maybe time slows down for them.' Terrel
was grasping at straws now, but Kerin was desperate for any degree of hope.

  'That's true,' he said. 'I knew one of them before, and he's hardly changed in appearance.' He paused, and his puzzled expression dissolved into misery once more. 'But it's not natural. I couldn't bear it if she . . . Perhaps it would've been better if she'd been killed. That way at least I'd know.'

  'Don't say that!' Terrel cried. 'Don't ever say that.'

  Kerin's face registered sudden shock, as if he had been slapped.

  'What am I saying?' he mumbled. 'Moons' blood. This is all too much for me.'

  They were silent for a while, each trying to control their emotions.

  'The fact that she was saved means she's special,' Terrel said eventually.

  'Even more special than we knew.' He'd been puzzling over this aspect of the mystery, but he had no time for further speculation now.

  Kerin nodded.

  'I love her,' he stated simply.

  So do I, Terrel thought, but knew that it was neither the time nor the place to put such a sentiment into words.

  'I lost another wife, another daughter,' Kerin added softly.

  'I know. Ysy told me. It's one of the reasons this baby means so much to her.'

  'So why did she do it?' Kerin asked, returning to his original question.

  This time Terrel knew he had to make some attempt at an answer.

  'I think it was instinctive,' he said. 'She knew Davi was special, but when she saw his mother's distress it connected to her own feelings, as if she imagined it was her child in danger, the one growing inside her. And she simply reacted. It's illogical, I know, but emotions often are. The injustice of what she was seeing affected her personally, and she just had to act.' It was the best he could offer and, even though he knew that none of it made much sense, it seemed that Kerin was taking him seriously.