Alena just nodded as she silently leaned back on the couch. She knew Bryon was right, if Jena were close to dying, the stone would not have given them any image. Jena must have been drugged for the crystal to have that bad of a connection with her vital essence. Time was what was needed. “Darn it,” Alena screamed out loud, “We don’t have time!”
Bryon came racing back into the living room with a full glass if pika juice in each hand, asking, “What happened?”
Immediately contrite at her outburst, Alena replied with resignation, “Nothing happened. It’s just me feeling sorry for myself.” She held out her hand for the glass of juice. She took a long drink and then sighed as she began thinking about any drug which could cause such a disruption between Jena and her birth crystal. Finally, she had it and spoke urgently, “Epeny! That’s it, Bryon, he must have given her epeny! I don’t know if she’s hurt or he’s just trying to keep her quiet, but I’m certain that’s what he used on her!”
“That’s good, right?” Bryon asked with concern.
“As long as she isn’t hurt, then the epeny should wear off in a couple of hours,” she responded hopefully. “We can keep checking on her and see if the fuzziness lessens. Don’t try to look through the murkiness, it will only make your head hurt. As soon as you make contact with the stone, if it feels wrong, disconnect immediately. That will lessen the effects of the haze on your own brain. We’re going to have to check often, I’m afraid,” she sighed with resignation.
“Let’s set a timer, we’ll check on her every twenty minutes. Does that sound okay to you?”
“That sounds perfect,” she replied with her first smile of hope.
Bryon stood from the couch and left to get the timing device. The smile he had shown Alena fell as he turned away from her. He was not feeling nearly as optimistic as Alena about this new turn of events. If Petre was drugging her, then he was probably moving her too. They needed to find him soon and get her back before he could find a way to harm her permanently with his selfish neglect. I’m going to make him pay for this! Bryon thought about all the dire things he could do to Petre as he angrily grabbed the timer from the kitchen counter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jena woke up in a strange place. She used her pudgy hands on the side of her drawer to lift herself to a sitting position. Her core was not very steady to begin with, but with her vision so blurry, she was even less coordinated than usual. With both hands on the front side of the drawer, she pulled her body over the edge and thumped awkwardly onto the floor. At least the drugs in her system kept her from registering the fact that the fall probably should have hurt.
On hands and knees, Jena scooted across the floor. She noticed a shimmering stream of light coming from near the front door, and she wanted to investigate. She loved shiny bits and pieces, the pull to touch it was strong. The floor seemed to be tipping from side to side making her compromised balance even more precarious. She stumbled into the chair legs and fell over more than once. Still, the shiny thing kept her attention.
Finally, she was next to the fist-sized metal and crystal object. She sat down beside it and clumsily used her hand to grab it off of the floor. Immediately, the item was inserted into her mouth. She liked the metallic taste and drool ran down her arm and dripped off of her elbow. Both hands were now holding the piece, and she stared at it again before returning it to her mouth to scrape her teeth and gums along each new surface.
Something moved by her side. Her attention was again caught by the movement of something big and brown. She dropped the metal and crystal item to free her hand to explore. Her vision was clearer now, but her coordination was still terrible. Her fingers touched the object, but it skittered away.
She turned and used her other hand to slap the entity onto the floor. Jena’s fingers closed around the wriggling body. She sat back on her rear and used both hands to bring it to her mouth to investigate. Her aim was not as good this time, and she brought the item up beside her mouth.
Something burned immediately on her cheek. This item was not nice, she threw it back onto the floor. The pain started to radiate from where it began and became so intense it overcame the drugging effects of the epeny. Jena started screaming where she sat on the floor. The pain spread and the shrieks became piercing wails of agony.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Petre once again was roused by screaming. He knew at once this was not a cry of unhappiness, this was one of pain and terror. Even his dull sleep senses could tell the difference. He looked immediately at the drawer where he had left Jena and, of course, she was not still there. His fuzziness evaporated as he saw Jena sitting by the front door and the beetlesnatch skittering away from her.
He leaped from the bed, glad he was still wearing his shoes. Stomping on the offending beetlesnatch, he bent over and picked up Jena. He noticed instantly that she had been bitten on the face by the disgusting bug. Knowing that the venom would be deadly unless treated immediately, Petre was desperate to get help for Jena.
Still carrying her, Petre opened the cabin door and ran up the stair to the main deck. He had to know his location before he could steer his water craft somewhere for help. Realizing he must have been asleep far longer than he had planned, he noticed they were nowhere near where they had started. With the dawning sun just above the horizon, he had difficulty seeing any signs of land.
There it was! Just to the left of the bow, on the skyline, was a smudge of land. He concentrated, as best he could with a screaming baby in his arms, on increasing the speed of the water craft to the maximum. Not knowing what land mass was ahead of him, he only hoped there was an experienced wise-woman to keep his daughter alive. Minutes passed slowly as Petre rubbed Jena’s back and repeatedly said, “It’s okay, Jena, I’m getting help for you. It’s okay, honey! We’re almost there. It’s okay!”
After what seemed an eternity, but was in actuality only about five minutes, Petre could make out the wharf of the island. To his utter dismay, he was going to be docking at Elder Debbon’s islet. Petre said a silent prayer of thanks as he realized this might be the best scenario possible since the Elders were the teachers to the best wise-women.
As he drew near the islet, Jena’s screams echoed off of the water and drew the attention of the people on the dock. The people knew the screams were from pain, they too could hear the difference. Someone broke free from the crowd and ran toward the Elder’s Residence.
Petre noted the runner and was glad to know there would be advance notice. He saw many people at the edge of the dock where he was maneuvering his craft. As he got close enough to jump he threw a rope to a young man at the same time he jumped from the water craft. Without waiting to see if his craft were tied up properly, he too made a straight line for the Elder’s Residence. He was more thankful than ever that he had already been there once and knew exactly where to go.
The guard at the front gate waved him and the screaming Jena through without asking for his signature. He followed the path up to the massive wooden door. Just as he was reaching for the door knob, the doors were thrown open. Petre came up short as he realized he was about to run directly into Elder Debbon himself.
Elder Debbon held his hands out for Jena. When Petre paused, Elder Debbon shook his hands and said, “Hurry, give the child to me, Petre!”
Without thinking, Petre thrust his screaming daughter into Elder Debbon’s hands. He did not know what to do when Elder Debbon suddenly turned and ran down the hall with Jena. Everything had happened so quickly, Petre was in a stupor. Then it clicked, Petre needed to be with his daughter! He hurried after the sound of his daughter’s screams.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elder Debbon felt a jolt of energy as his hands came near the youngster. There were few things in life which surprised him anymore, but this child was a revelation; more so since Petre was the giver of this naked youth. Debbon felt an odd sense of déjà vu as he held the girl. He knew this matter required investigation, but for now, he needed to find out what was caus
ing this little girl to scream in so much pain.
Debbon noticed the angry, bleeding puncture wound on the small girl’s cheek and the even more insidious red streaks emanating from the wound. Only one thing could cause these injuries coupled with this much pain: a beetlesnatch! Where had Petre been that there were beetlesnatch hatching at this time of year? Only a new hatchling could carry enough poison to cause this much damage.
He had reached his surgery by now, he set the little girl on a padded bench and knelt down on the floor beside her to be able to use his healing powers without falling over. This was going to be tricky. Seeing the black birth crystal around the child’s neck, Debbon focused his healing energy through that stone, he then moved the elemy up and over the screaming child’s head.
Immediately, he felt her power rise up and mingle with his own. The mixture was so strong, he was almost overwhelmed. Wanting desperately to be able to explore the new sensation, he was then made aware of epeny coursing through the little girl. He swept the drug out of her system with a single thought, eliminating the fog of confusion which had surrounded the little girl.
Her screams became more intense as the drug was removed allowing the full pain to register from her wound. Debbon realized he had made a mistake in removing the epeny first. He had been so anxious to feel her power uninhibited by the drug, he forgot to use his common sense that the drug would help her more than hurt her at this point. Too late now, he thought, I just need to get this done.
Debbon reached up and touched the girl’s skull to both heal the large lump on her forehead as well as to draw away her pain from the bite on her cheek. Her screams became whimpers and then finally subsided to deep gulping breaths. Now that she was not feeling the pain, Debbon was able to get up from the floor and get his beetlesnatch ointment. Once applied, he felt confident that the poison would not continue to break down the muscles under the skin. He then spent a few moments drawing the poison from the red streaks and out of the opening. Knowing the scarring which could be left by such a bite, Elder Debbon did something he normally would not do; he used their combined energy to completely heal the wound.
She was a beautiful child, and the thought of her being disfigured by such a scar on her face was unthinkable. The healing was now complete and Elder Debbon was able to rest back on his heels and take a deep cleansing breath. It had been a long time since he had performed such a rushed healing. He realized with sudden amazement that he was not even slightly tired. Thinking on this oddity, it occurred to Elder Debbon that the child’s energy must have played a much larger part in the healing than he had even realized.
Who is this girl? Elder Debbon wondered to himself. With sudden realization, he recognized this child was from the vision he had had mesans ago when he had been interrogating Petre. He could hardly believe that the vision had come true and that Jena was the child in danger being handed to him.
A shuffling noise off to his left side caught his attention, and he turned his head. He had not realized that Petre had followed them into his surgery. I must be dazzled by this child to not realize Petre was here! He chastised himself for letting his keen interest get in the way of his perceptions.
To cover his excitement, he asked Petre, “Whose child is this?”
“She’s mine,” Petre proclaimed proudly not bothering to hide his smug smile of satisfaction.
“Yours?” Erupted Elder Debbon before he composed himself and asked, “Who is her mother?”
“Her mother was Jes…” he started to say and then realized he could not call her Jesisca since that was the name he had given her from the water craft he had previously sold to Elder Debbon. The Elder was bound to make the connection and know he had been lying about not finding anyone on board. He had to answer promptly and substituted, “Her mother was Jessa.” He hung his head as though he were grieving, but in actuality, he was trying to hide his almost fatal mistake with the Elder.
“Where did you meet this Jessa?” Elder Debbon asked with suspicion.
“We met at the docks.”
“How did you happen to have a daughter with her?” Elder Debbon continued his quick questions.
“The usual way, I suppose. I slept with her, and she got pregnant,” he answered blithely.
“Don’t get cheeky with me, Petre, it’s not smart,” he cautioned. “Tell me how you ended up with custody of this child.”
Petre thought for a moment, then replied, “When Jessa and I met we fell in love at first sight.” Noticing Elder Debbon’s skeptical expression, he added, “It was bound to happen for me sometime.” He added a theatrical shrug for good measure.
“Go on,” prompted Elder Debbon even though his skepticism was evident.
“Well, Jessa said she wanted to sail the world with me. So she came with me on my water craft. After a few weeks, we knew it was meant to be forever for us so we got married.”
“Who married you?” Elder Debbon asked rapidly.
“We married ourselves. We can do that since we were officially living on the water. It was a civil ceremony between the two of us.”
“Okay, so you married yourselves. Go on.”
“One thing led to another and before you know it, Jessa was pregnant with little Jena there.” Petre pointed at the little girl who was happily discovering her feet flying above her as she lay on her back.
“So where is Jessa now?” Elder Debbon decided to cut to the question at hand.
“A few mesans ago, there was a sudden squall,” Petre temporized immediately, “Jessa was worried about me on the deck so she came to check up on me. I was holding on to the center mast as the wind was whipping so hard, Jessa didn’t stand a chance. As soon as she came on deck, the wind swept her overboard. I never saw her surface again.” Petre hung his head and tried to squeeze out a tear or two for good measure.
“I see.” Elder Debbon then had a brilliant thought to try to trap him in his lie, “I assume you filed a swimming report?”
“No, but you can ask at any port that I was searching for my wife. I’ve spent every waking minute looking for her. My life would be over if it weren’t for little Jena here.”
“I see,” repeated Elder Debbon. He was thinking he was going to have to look into this matter. First, he wanted to have some time alone with little Jena. There was something special about this girl’s powers which warranted an investigation. He was not about to let Petre take her away with him until he had his chance to find out more about Jena.
Elder Debbon took a single step to reach the small table by a side door Petre had not previously noticed. The Elder picked up a little bell and rang it two times and gently returned it to the table. He turned and contemplated Jena for a moment as if waiting for something to happen.
There was a small knock on the door just before it opened. A young girl walked in and asked Elder Debbon, “What may I get for you, Elder?”
“Please take Jena here to give her a bath, dress her properly, feed her, and then see if she’ll settle for a nap,” he replied with authority.
“Right away, Elder,” the girl replied as she bent to scoop up the naked baby girl in her arms. She tucked her into the crook of her arm and left immediately out the same door in which she had entered.
It had all happened so fast, Petre did not realize what was going on before he said, “Now wait a minute. Where are you taking her? She’s mine! I want her back!” His voice was rising with each statement.
Elder Debbon made a cutting motion with his hand, and Petre found himself unable to utter another syllable even though many more thoughts were trying to leave his mouth. Petre’s face turned red, he crossed his arms defiantly, and he started tapping his foot on the ground in frustration.
“Are you quite through yet?” Elder Debbon asked reasonably.
Petre had many things he wished to say but only nodded his head instead. He saw Elder Debbon raise his finger, and suddenly he was able to talk again when he said, “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Neither was
your vulgar display of manners in my Residence,” Elder Debbon reprimanded Petre.
Petre actually did feel bad for his outburst and simply said, “I’m sorry, Elder Debbon, please forgive me.”
Elder Debbon gently probed Petre’s usually obscured mind and found that Petre actually meant his apology. Debbon was then shocked to realize he had actually gotten through Petre’s unusually thick skull and sent another probe into Petre’s mind. It was not very ethical, but this opportunity was not to be missed. Debbon was once again surprised to read that Jena really was his daughter whom Petre loved very much. He also received the very barest glimpse of whom he supposed was Jessa, but the thought was gone too soon to be certain. Within a moment’s time, Petre’s mind was again cloudy and unreadable to Debbon.
Elder Debbon went on as though nothing had happened and responded with, “It’s understandable that you are protective of your daughter. I know you want only the best for her.”
Petre nodded and said, “I’d do anything for her. She’s very special to me. She deserves nothing but the best this life has to offer now that her mother is gone. When will Jena be ready for me to take her back to my water craft?”
“I understand you wanting to be on your way. However, a beetlesnatch bite is not something to mess around with. I’d like to keep Jena here for a few hours to make sure she doesn’t have a secondary reaction to the bite. You know how the secondary reactions can be much more sudden and severe than the initial poison. It’s very serious. I would be remiss in my duties as a healer if I let her go before I was confident of her good health. I’m sure you’d agree?”
“Absolutely,” Petre responded before he even realized what he was saying. “I’d like to be with Jena.”
Elder Debbon leaned his very formidable skills on Petre when he said, “Why don’t you go get something to eat in the village. Take this chit,” he removed a small talisman from his front pocket and held it out to Petre, “to let the vendor know that I’ll take care of the charges. You’ve had a very trying day. You need to rest, regain your strength, and then in a few of hours, you can return to get Jena. I should be through evaluating her condition by then, and you can both be on your way.”
Ascension Discovery Page 47
